■ BANKS
Singapore lifts game ban
Singapore has lifted a ban on an Xbox video game featuring an intimate scene between two female characters, a newspaper reported yesterday. The game Mass Effect would now be sold with an "M18" label, meaning it cannot be legally purchased by anyone under 18, the Straits Times said, citing the city-state's media watchdog, the Media Development Authority. The futuristic space adventure video console game made by Microsoft was reported to have been banned on Thursday because it contained what the Board of Film Censors described as a "a scene of lesbian intimacy."
■ BANKS
Northern Rock boss resigns
Adam Applegarth, the chief executive of embattled British bank Northern Rock, resigned on Friday, his employer said. However, he will continue to run the group until about the end of January next year, Northern Rock added in a statement. Northern Rock ran into serious trouble sourcing credit in September as it became caught up in the fallout from the US subprime housing crisis. Northern Rock received financial help from the Bank of England as it grappled with the first run on a British bank in living memory.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Chrysler mulls changes
Chrysler LLC is considering wide-ranging branding changes that would streamline its product offerings and eliminate as many as 1,000 dealers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. A plan currently under discussion calls for Chrysler dealers to sell all of the automaker's passenger cars under the Chrysler name. Dodge dealers would sell only pickup and commercial trucks, and Jeep dealers would sell only Jeep and sport-utility vehicles, three dealers familiar with the discussions told the Journal for its online edition. The plan would allow Chrysler, which seeks to return to profitability by 2009, to drop some of its overlapping products.
■ ENERGY
Malaysia backs acquisition
The Malaysian government has allowed plantations-to-power group Synergy Drive to acquire 60 percent of the operator of the controversial Bakun hydroelectric dam, conglomerate Sime Darby said. Synergy Drive is the vehicle that merges state-linked firms Sime Darby, Golden Hope Plantations and Kumpulan Guthrie and their subsidiaries in an US$11 billion deal that will also create the world's largest listed palm oil firm. "Synergy Drive has received a letter of intention from the government approving in principle the acquisition of a 60 percent equity interest in Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd by Synergy Drive," Sime Darby said in a statement late on Friday. The approval is considered a major boost for Synergy Drive ahead of its stock market debut on Nov. 30.
■ ECONOMY
Asia in good shape: Kuroda
Asian economic growth will remain strong this year and next despite energy costs and recent market turbulence, Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said yesterday. He said there would be no change to the bank's latest regional growth forecast of 8.3 percent this year and 8.2 percent next year, although inflationary pressures stemming from high oil prices remained a risk. "There are a few risks ... but as I said, despite these risks, our main scenario for Asian economies is that growth will continue this year as well as next year," Kuroda said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks