■GAMBLING
Tropicana under new owners
Tropicana Las Vegas has emerged from bankruptcy protection with new owners. Toronto-based Onex Corporation and former MGM Mirage President Alex Yemenidjian acquired a majority stake in the Las Vegas hotel-casino this week, as it completed its yearlong bankruptcy process, the Las Vegas Sun reported. The new owners took over the property on Thursday from the Las Vegas-based Tropicana Entertainment LLC. The once-debt ridden casino emerged from bankruptcy with no debt, more than US$10 million in cash and US$75 million in commitments from its new owners for upgrades.
■INVESTMENT
Stanton victims file suit
Two US legal firms announced on Friday that they have filed a class action suit against a London-based insurer on behalf of the Mexican victims of fraudulent financier Allen Stanford. The lawsuit was filed by the Strasburger & Price and Castillo Snyder law firms before a court in Houston and targets Willis Group Holdings — an insurer headquartered in London, with offices around the world. Also named in the suit are the Willis office in Colorado, insurance company Bowen, Miclette & Britt, and two unidentified individuals. The suit accuses Willis Group Holdings of having given Stanford Financial “safe and soundness” letters at Stanford’s request.
■AUTOMOBILES
VW electric car set for 2013
German auto maker Volkswagen (VW) hopes to turn out its first all-electric car in 2013, VW head Martin Winterkorn said on Friday. “We are going to use our New Small Family line to offer our first electric vehicle in 2013,” he said in a speech, according to an advance text. “And in 10 years at the latest we want to offer a large number of all-electric vehicles at affordable prices and with the autonomy that our clients expect.” Winterkorn added that VW was aiming for 1.5 percent of the global all-electric vehicle market by 2020.
■ENERGY
African pipeline in works
Nigeria, Algeria and Niger have signed an agreement to create a US$10 billion pipeline that would ship gas across the Saharan desert to Europe, Nigeria’s state oil company said on Friday. The plan comes as Europe seeks new sources of gas imports as it currently depends on Russia for much of its needs. The project was approved by energy ministers from all three governments, an official said. It is expected to come on line in 2015.
■AVIATION
EU airline ban lifted
Indonesia’s transport minister says the European Commission will lift a ban on four Indonesian airlines. Jusman Syafii Djamal says Garuda, Mandala Airlines, Airfast Indonesia and Prime Air will be allowed to fly in the EU within 20 days. The ban, which was imposed in 2007 after a series of accidents, remains in place for 53 other Indonesian airlines. Jusman said the ban was lifted because the carriers introduced new safety measures.
■MANUFACTURING
Rosenthal takes bids
A Turkish china manufacturer has bid for Rosenthal, a premium German manufacturer of table porcelain, an insolvency administrator said in Munich on Friday. Kutahya Seramik Porselen’s bid trumps that of Italian saucepan and cutlery group Sambonet Paderno. Rosenthal makes fine porcelain dinner sets which are prized in Germany as wedding presents. Germany’s china industry has struggled to pay labor costs at German levels.
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],”