STEELMAKERS
ThyssenKrupp expects profit
The biggest German steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp, hopes to make a pre-tax profit of at least 1 billion euros (US$1.38 billion) in its current fiscal year, its boss said yesterday in an interview. “For the pre-tax profit we are headed for a figure of a billion [euros], or more,” Ekkehard Schulz told the business daily Handelsblatt. ThyssenKrupp, whose business year begins on Oct. 1, had previously forecast a pre-tax profit of between 100 million and 1 billion euros, and expected to fall somewhere in the middle. In its fiscal year for 2008 to last year, the group suffered a pre-tax loss of 2.4 billion euros owing in part to a global economic slump.
ELECTRONICS
Qualcomm halts FLO sales
US technology company Qualcomm said on Tuesday that it was suspending sales of its FLO TV “personal television” sets as it examines the future of the mobile TV service. “We have been examining strategic opportunities for FLO TV,” Qualcomm said in a statement. “While this process continues, we are suspending our direct-to-consumer sales of new devices.” FLO TV provides live television broadcasts to subscribers but the service has never really taken off and Qualcomm said it is in discussions about selling its network and spectrum. Besides the US, FLO TV has been tested in Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.
INTERNET
Yahoo acquires Dapper
Yahoo, seeking to maintain its hold on the display advertising market, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Dapper, a company that creates the interactive Web advertisements. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Dapper, which was founded in 2006, operates a technology platform for display ad creation and optimization. “Dapper’s capabilities combined with Yahoo’s already deep consumer insights will further enhance Yahoo’s ability to deliver customized and relevant advertising,” the Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo said in a statement.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Crucell stake sold
Pharmaceutical and healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson has reached a deal with Dutch biotechnology vaccine group Crucell to buy 82.5 percent of Crucell for about 1.75 billion euros, the two firms said yesterday. The payment, in cash, would be made by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson which already owns 17.5 percent of the biotechnology firm. “This potential combination would provide us with a new platform for growth and advances our goal to deliver integrated health care solutions, with particular emphasis on prevention,” said Paul Stoffels, the head of pharmaceutical research at Johnson & Johnson.
TECHNOLOGY
LS Cable to buy wire
South Korea’s LS Cable said yesterday it has signed a contract to buy superconducting power wire from a US company, the world’s first commercial-scale deal for the next-generation product. LS Cable is buying 3,000km of the wire from American Superconductor Corporation so it can make cables to sell in world markets, a spokesman for the Korean firm told reporters. Superconducting cables, which can carry about 10 times as much power as copper wires of the same size and are more cost-effective, will be crucial for next-generation power grids, he said. “This is the first commercial-scale order for superconducting wire,” said spokesman Pitt Kim.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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
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
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure