Acer gets green light from EU
Acer Inc, the world's third-largest computer supplier, secured EU antitrust approval to acquire Packard Bell BV.
The European Commission, the 27-nation EU's antitrust regulator in Brussels, announced the approval in a statement yesterday.
Acer is a global supplier of laptop and desktop personal computers, servers, storage devices, LCD monitors and high-definition televisions. Packard Bell, based in the Netherlands, supplies desktops, notebooks and other computer products.
The commission said the personal computer market will remain competitive after the merger because of competition from Fujitsu Siemens Computers Holding BV, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and other suppliers.
China Railway completes IPO
China Railway Construction, which built part of the controversial train line to Tibet, said yesterday it raised 22.25 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) from a domestic initial public offering.
The company priced the 2.45 billion yuan-denominated A shares offered at 9.08 yuan each, the top end of an indicative range of 8.00 to 9.08 yuan per share, it said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The price valued the company at 30.56 times last year's projected net profit based on Chinese accounting standards, it said.
The offering attracted about 3.1 trillion yuan of subscription funds, with the retail tranche 156 times oversubscribed and institutional tranche 78 times oversubscribed.
South Korea's deficit widens
South Korea's current account deficit widened to an 11-year high last month because of soaring prices of oil and other raw materials, the central bank said yesterday.
The current account shortfall reached US$2.6 billion last month following a deficit of US$813.8 million the previous month, the Bank of Korea said.
Last month's deficit was the largest since January 1997 when South Korea posted a deficit of US$3.13 billion.
Resource-poor South Korea, the world's 13th largest economy, posted a current account surplus of US$6 billion last year.
The central bank predicts the account will register a shortfall of US$3 billion this year, which would be the first deficit since 1997.
Higher inflation hits Vietnam
Vietnam's inflation rate reached 15.7 percent this month, the highest in more than a decade, as the government struggled to control prices in Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economy.
The increase was driven by sharp price gains in food, housing and construction materials, the General Statistical Office said on its Web site yesterday.
Food prices were 25.2 percent higher than the same period last year, and housing and construction materials were up 16.4 percent.
Tokyo exchange warns on loans
The Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc will monitor stock option-backed loans used by Japanese companies to raise funds, saying the practice may dilute shareholders' stakes and undermine limits on banks' control over the companies.
"It would dilute shareholders' voting rights and increase the chance for banks to abuse their power," Atsushi Saito, the bourse's president, said at a regular press briefing in Tokyo yesterday. "We will alert investors."
Loans backed by stock options can cause dilution if a borrower fails to pay interest, defaults or is delisted, prompting the lender to exercise the options. Japanese banks, barred from owning more than 5 percent of a company, may also use the options to boost their influence, while companies may use the prospect of share dilution to ward off unsolicited takeovers, Saito said.
HK exports continue to climb
Hong Kong exports soared 15.8 percent last month, driven by the strong performance in China and other emerging economies, official figures showed yesterday.
Exports reached HK$240.1 billion (US$30.8 billion), 15.8 percent up on January last year, after a year-on-year increase of 8.2 percent the previous month.
A government spokesman said the bulk of the growth came from China and other emerging markets, and that the expansion of the EU market had also contributed.
He said the global trading environment remained uncertain, as the US economy continued to weaken and as financial market turmoil had yet to settle.
But he expressed optimism that strong growth in many emerging economies would continue to provide support to Hong Kong's trade performance.
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],”