■ TRADE
Germany tops China
Germany defended its rank as top global exporter last year, beating China for possibly the last time as it posted a sharp increase in its trade surplus yesterday. Exports by the biggest European economy came to 969 billion euros (US$1.4 billion) last year, an increase of 8.5 percent from 2006, official figures showed. China sold US$1.22 billion worth of goods abroad, data on the Chinese trade ministry's Internet site shows. The WTO said last year that China would surpass Germany next year. Germany posted a trade surplus for last year of 199 billion euros, up 40 billion euros, the figures showed.
■ INTERNET
Softbank,Yahoo in talks
The president of a Japanese mobile carrier that owns a stake in Yahoo said he is in talks with Yahoo chief Jerry Yang (楊致遠) about how to respond to Microsoft's takeover bid. "The talks have just started," said Masayoshi Son, president of Softbank Corp, at a news conference about earnings on Thursday. Last week, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo Inc for about US$44.6 billion. Softbank owns a 3.9 percent stake in Yahoo of the US and about 40 percent of Yahoo Japan. Yahoo Inc in turn owns about a third of Yahoo Japan.
■ INTERNET
Facebook says `hola'
Facebook Inc has unveiled a Spanish-language version of its popular online social network, hoping to expand its audience and catch up to MySpace.com. It marks the first time Facebook has been available in a language other than English since founder Mark Zuckerberg started the site at Harvard University four years ago. The Spanish version was unveiled on Thursday. Facebook plans to add French and German versions before April, said Matt Cohler, vice president of strategy and operations. News Corp's MySpace is already available in 13 languages.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Soros invests in Bollywood
Billionaire George Soros has bought a US$100 million stake in films-to-mobile Indian media company Reliance Entertainment owned by tycoon Anil Ambani, an official said yesterday. "A fund owned by George Soros has picked up a 3 percent stake in Reliance Entertainment for US$100," a Reliance spokesman said. He said the sale valued unlisted Reliance Entertainment at 120 billion rupees (US$3 billion). It will use the money to boost its presence in the media sector and to produce movies with top Bollywood directors, the Economic Times said. Mumbai-based Bollywood, the world's largest movie-making industry, turned out more than 250 films last year.
■ TELECOMS
"Google platform to debut
British chip designer ARM will demonstrate a prototype of Google Inc's Android mobile phone platform in action next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a source close to the company said. Google and ARM declined to comment on the report. Google established an alliance of more than 30 carriers, handset makers, software firms and chipmakers last November to develop Android, which is based on open-source software and designed to make the Internet work better on mobile phones. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile and High Tech Computer Corp (宏達電) of Taiwan have said that they plan to offer phones based on the Android platform this year.
■ EUROPEAN UNION
ECB hits of more rate cuts
European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet stressed "unusually high" uncertainty about eurozone growth prospects as the bank opened the door to a possible rate cut in the months to come if necessary. "Uncertainty about the prospects for economic growth is unusually high" and risks to future momentum had increased the chances of a slowdown, Trichet said at a press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday after the bank left its main rate at 4 percent. Trichet said information available to the bank suggested growth in the 15-nation eurozone was "close to potential but perhaps on the lower side of growth potential," which has been identified as 2 percent. "I see a number of forecasts around 1.8 percent for the present year," he said.
■ BANKING
Broker quizzed over Kerviel
French police questioned a share broker yesterday over links to rogue trader Jerome Kerviel, whose 4.8 billion euro (US$7.1 billion) losses nearly brought Societe Generale (SocGen) bank to its knees, justice officials said. The broker was detained on Thursday when police also raided a trading firm linked to SocGen, the sources said. The man, who has not been named but works at the Fimat brokerage, is suspected of being aware of Kerviel's unauthorized trading, Le Monde reported. Many of Kerviel's transactions on the European stock market are believed to have passed via Fimat, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SocGen that specializes in the derivatives which Kerviel traded in. Two days before SocGen's losses were revealed on Jan. 24, Fimat was merged with another broker subsidiary, Calyon. The new firm is called Newedge.
■ GEMS
De Beers sales drop 3.7%
De Beers has posted a 3.7 percent fall in natural rough diamond sales for last year to US$5.92 billion due to tighter supplies. Jewelry demand last year was healthy, but the outlook for this year was uncertain, it said yesterday. "The economic conditions in the US could continue to impact consumer diamond jewelry sales through the first half particularly at the lower end," De Beers said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure