■ ECONOMY
Brazilian GDP up 5.2%
Latin America's biggest economy grew more than 5 percent last year, boosted by high global demand for Brazilian ethanol, iron ore and agricultural products, as well as a booming domestic market, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday. Mantega said GDP grew between 5.2 percent and 5.3 percent last year. The government reported expansion of 5.7 percent in the third quarter of last year, largely because of big gains in the agricultural and industrial sectors. Mantega said industrial output is expected to grow by more than the 6 percent posted last year.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Strike grinds on
The United Auto Workers and auto parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc negotiated all day on Friday, trying to end an 11-day strike that has affected dozens of factories in the US and Canada. The bargaining came as General Motors Corp said parts shortages from the strike would force it to shut down part or all of 28 assembly and components factories. On Friday, GM added 17 components plants to the growing list and said on its Web site that the affected plants employ more than 37,000 hourly workers. All 17 additional plants are scheduled to go on partial shutdown starting tomorrow, the Detroit-based automaker said.
■ GLASS
Corning may ditch Steuben
Corning Inc, the biggest maker of glass for flat-panel displays, may sell or close its unprofitable Steuben Glass luxury crystal unit. Steuben, founded in 1903, has been losing money for "a few years," spokeswoman Kelli Hopp-Michlosky said yesterday in an e-mailed message. If Corning can't find a buyer, it will consider closing the business, which has about US$25 million in annual revenue and employs 150 people, she said. A sale would allow Corning to focus on its other businesses. Almost half of its sales come from liquid-crystal-display glass, where orders have surged as manufacturers switch to producing high-definition TV sets.
■ BEVERAGES
Carlsberg can buy brewer
EU competition regulators on Friday approved Danish brewer Carlsberg's purchase of some of the assets of British rival Scottish and Newcastle. Scottish and Newcastle in January accepted a £7.8 billion (US$15.5 billion) takeover bid by Carlsberg of Denmark and Heineken of the Netherlands. Under the deal, Carlsberg and Heineken are to split Scottish and Newcastle's assets between them. Carlsberg will take Scottish and Newcastle's half of their joint Russian venture Baltic Beverages Holding, which makes Russia's Baltika beer, and its Chinese, French, Greek and Vietnamese operations. Heineken, meanwhile, will take businesses in Belgium, Britain, Finland, India, Ireland, Portugal and the US.
■ STEEL
Workers poisoned
Workers at an Arcelor Mittal steelworks in Bosnia sought medical attention for nausea and vomiting after eating a special meal provided by the company to mark its "health and safety day" on Thursday. "Some 163 workers ... reported having stomach problems this morning. Ninety sought medical attention but only one was hospitalized," said Boba Lizdek, spokeswoman for the steel plant. In addition to a standard lunch, workers were given extra sweets and fruit juice. Meals provided by Arcelor Mittal are prepared by a local catering firm.
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],”