■REAL ESTATE
Aberdeen trims holdings
Aberdeen Asset Management Co has trimmed its holdings of real-estate developers as surging prices in China, Hong Kong and Macau fuel concerns the property market may be overheating. “Since March, the market was too fast in terms of a recovery,” Nicholas Yeo, head of Hong Kong and China equities, said in an interview on Friday at Aberdeen, which manages US$38 billion in Asian equities. In terms of property stocks, “we’ve done what we wanted to do.” Aberdeen is favoring consumer-related companies that are likely to have greater pricing power, Yeo said. The firm’s holdings include Giordano International Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong-based clothing retailer, and Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd, the operator of supermarkets, drugstores and convenience shops throughout Asia, Yeo said.
■ECONOMY
N, S Korean trade drops
Trade between North and South Korea dipped more than 20 percent in the first eight months of this year amid soured relations on the divided peninsula, a lawmaker said yesterday. Trade between the two Koreas fell 24.1 percent to US$929.66 million from January to August from the same period last year, Noh Young-min, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party, said in a statement. He said his office got the figures from the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs. The trade has declined due mainly to troubles with a joint tour program and a joint industrial park in the North, he said. Ministry officials were not available for comment yesterday, a national holiday.
■ENTERTAINMENT
Miramax to cut production
The Walt Disney Co said on Friday its Miramax Films division will slash the number of movies it produces each year, which it says will lead to “significant cost savings.” The division will now produce about three movies a year, down from the current six to eight, and eliminate 50 jobs in New York and Los Angeles by January. About 20 employees will remain, mostly at the New York headquarters. The announcement on Friday came two weeks after Disney studio chief Dick Cook said he was stepping down immediately as chairman after nearly four decades with the company. Daniel Battsek will continue as president of Miramax.
■ENTERTAINMENT
GE mulls NBC Universal IPO
General Electric (GE) said on Friday it was considering an initial public offering for NBC Universal or a partnership for the media and entertainment giant formed with France’s Vivendi five years ago. “Discussions are ongoing on an IPO,” said the spokesman for GE, which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, adding that a “partnership” was also a possibility. The GE spokesman initially confirmed that talks were being held with US cable television company Comcast, but later said he was unable to do so “at this stage.”
■BANKING
Three more US banks fail
Three US banks failed on Friday, bringing the total to 98 this year, as regulators continue to shutter financial institutions that are overwhelmed by bad loans and liquidity problems. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) said that Warren Bank in Michigan, Jennings State Bank in Minnesota and Southern Colorado National Bank were closed. Combined, the three latest failures are expected to cost the FDIC’s insurance fund a total of about US$293 million. The FDIC said it expects failures to peak this year and next year, and that industry earnings would recover in 2011.
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