Carrefour SA and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, two of the biggest overseas retailers operating in China, reported sales gains in the first half of this year as they continue to expand store outlets in one of the world's fastest-growing retail markets.
Carrefour, Europe's biggest retailer and the No. 1 foreign retailer in China by sales, had a 20 percent sales gain from a year earlier to 7.8 billion yuan (US$942 million) after the Paris-based company increased outlets from 39 to 50, China's Commerce Ministry said on its Web site.
Sales at Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, gained 32 percent to 3.7 billion yuan, with store numbers rising from 27 to 39. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart ranks fourth of six foreign retailers operating in China, the ministry said.
Overseas retailers have been expanding in China as the nation opens a domestic market of 1.3 billion people to foreign competition. Urban disposable income rose 12 percent to US$582 in the first half.
Wal-Mart plans to open 20 new stores in China next year, with three to be located in Shanghai, the Oriental Morning Post reported yesterday, citing the company.
Carrefour ranked fifth among China's top 30 retailers in the first half, and Wal-Mart was No. 17, the ministry said.
The top 30 chains had combined sales growth of 38 percent, rising to 170.5 billion yuan in the first half, it said.
Metro Group's China sales gained 13.8 percent to 3.3 billion yuan in the first half, as the German retailer increased its store numbers to 20 from 17, the ministry said.
Two of the "overseas" retailers on the ministry list are owned by Hong Kong-traded China Resources Enterprise Ltd, the business arm of China's foreign trade ministry. Sales of Suguo Supermarket Co rose 43 percent to 7 billion yuan, and sales at China Vanguard Super Department Co were up 8 percent to 5.4 billion yuan. Suguo increased its stores from 1,001 to 1,236, while Vanguard reduced its number of stores from 467 to 450.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is