■ TRADE
Japan appeals ruling
Japan on Friday appealed a WTO ruling that largely sided with Seoul in a sensitive dispute over Japan's punitive damages on South Korean computer chip exports. "Most of the decision was unfavorable to us," Japanese trade negotiator Koji Saito said. "We disagree with the findings." South Korea claimed victory after the release of the decision last month, even though the WTO refused to order Tokyo to scrap a 27.2 percent charge on imports of DRAM chips made by South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc. The panel ruling implied that Japan would, however, have to recalculate the duty it introduced in January of last year.
■ ENERGY
China taking it slow
China will alter its energy-pricing system gradually, Ma Kai (馬凱), head of the nation's top economic planning agency, told reporters in Beijing yesterday. The nation is "resolute" that it will make changes to boost the efficient use of resources, said Ma, the head of the National Development and Reform Commission. Ma declined to comment directly on the possibility of raising the prices of oil, electricity and natural gas this year amid inflation pressures. China's consumer prices rose 5.6 percent in July from a year earlier, the biggest increase in more than 10 years, as food costs soared.
■ ENERGY
Delayed merger expected
The long-delayed merger of energy groups Suez and state-owned Gaz de France could be announced next week, a source said on Friday. "Discussions are in progress" between Suez and the French presidency, said the source close to the negotiations. They "could advance pretty quickly and lead to a deal at the beginning of the week, perhaps on Monday." Earlier in the day, news magazine Le Point had also set on Monday as a likely date for the announcement. The 90 billion euro (US$123 billion) merger would create the world's third largest energy group by market capitalization, behind Russia's Gazprom and France's Electricite de France (EDF), and just ahead of Germany's EON.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai workers to strike
Workers at South Korea's largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor, have voted to go on strike this week, a company spokesman said yesterday. Almost two-thirds of Hyundai's 44,800-strong union voted to authorize a strike as early as Tuesday after 50 days of negotiations broke down. The union is seeking an 8.9 percent pay increase, an extension of the retirement age from 58 to 60 and a halt to the allocation of work to overseas plants -- demands that management say are "unacceptable." Not a year has passed without a strike since the union was formed in 1987. Strikes last year alone cost the company 115,683 vehicles worth US$1.7 billion.
■ AVIATION
Airbus A380 hits hangar
The Airbus A380 hit an airport hangar in Bangkok on Saturday, forcing the world's largest passenger jet to delay its takeoff on an demonstration Asian tour, an Airbus official said. The bump caused slight damage to the left wing of the double-decker plane, the official said, adding that the accident happened because of miscommunication between pilots and ground staff. The A380 on Friday arrived in Bangkok, the first leg of its four-city Asian tour, and was to make a round trip from Bangkok to the country's northern tourist hub, Chiang Mai, early yesterday.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”