MANUFACTURING
Japan output drops again
Japan’s industrial output slipped for a third consecutive month in August, data showed yesterday, in a further sign that a fragile export-led recovery is losing steam. Output fell 0.3 percent, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said, following July’s revised 0.2 percent slump. The latest figure came in below expectations of a 1.1 percent rise. “Industrial production is flat and is likely to be weak,” the ministry said, adding that the general machinery sector and iron and steel production were the main contributors to the monthly decrease. The ministry expects production to fall 0.1 percent for last month and 2.9 percent this month.
MANUFACTURING
S Korea sees growth
South Korea’s industrial output grew year-on-year for the 14th straight month in August but dipped month-on-month, official data showed yesterday. Production in mining and manufacturing grew 17.1 percent from August last year, Statistics Korea said in a report. The figure dipped 1 percent from July, the first monthly decline for 10 months, as workers took summer vacations and factories cut inventories amid concern over the health of the global economic recovery. “There was a contraction in shipping and other transportation equipment sectors, but overall figures were propped up by a strong showing in semiconductors and machinery equipment sectors,” the statistical agency’s Yun Myoung-joon said.
BANKING
ICBC reaffirms partnership
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) said yesterday its strategic partnership with Goldman Sachs remained unchanged after the US investment bank cut its stake to raise more than US$2 billion. Goldman Sachs had sold about 23 percent of its holdings in the Chinese lender’s Hong Kong-listed shares, the Beijing-based bank said. The sale would bring Goldman’s stake in ICBC down to 3 percent of China’s largest bank by assets after it initially bought a 4.9 percent stake in 2006. “Goldman Sachs indicated its strategic cooperation relations with us remains unchanged. It is still ICBC’s strategic investor,” an ICBC spokeswoman told reporters.
REAL ESTATE
Emaar to issue notes
Dubai’s giant developer Emaar Properties, which built the world’s tallest tower, will issue up to US$500 million in convertible notes, pending approval by shareholders, the company said. “The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to refinance short-term liabilities and for general corporate purposes,” Emaar said in a late-Wednesday statement. The planned offering would be for US$450 million of convertible notes due in 2015, “with a potential maximum size of US$500 million if the over-allotment option is exercised,” Emaar said.
OIL
Marubeni eyes North Sea
Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp said yesterday it would buy stakes in North Sea oil and gas fields from the Norwegian Energy Co. Marubeni will pay about US$150 million for the deal over the Oselvar and Enoch oil and gas fields in the Norwegian North Sea. The Japanese firm estimates its interests of the two fields should produce 3,000 barrels of crude and natural gas a day. “Through this transaction, we can enter into the Norwegian North Sea, an area with significant remaining potential,” Marubeni said. “We are confident that this acquisition will be a stepping stone to allow us to further develop our business in Norway."
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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