AUTOMAKERS
US recalls hit 20 million
Automakers recalled about 20 million vehicles in the US this year, led by high-profile recalls by Toyota that prompted new scrutiny of the auto industry’s safety record. An analysis of federal data shows that the number of recalls this year is the largest since 2004. Toyota recalled about 7.1 million vehicles this year to fix faulty gas pedals, floor mats that could trap accelerators, defective braking and stalling engines. General Motors recalled about 4 million vehicles, while Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan both recalled more than 2 million cars and trucks. The auto industry set a record with 30.8 million recalled vehicles in 2004.
SOUTH KOREA
Industrial output rises
After contracting for three straight months, South Korea’s industrial output rose last month from a month earlier thanks to brisk production of cars, semiconductors and parts, figures showed yesterday. Statistics Korea said that production in mining and manufacturing rose 1.4 percent from October and increased 10.4 percent year-on-year. However, the leading economic composite index, a gauge of economic performance eight to 15 months ahead, dipped 0.8 percentage points from a month earlier, marking its 11th straight month of contraction.
BANKING
Indonesia to tighten rules
Indonesia said it would tighten rules on banks’ foreign exchange holdings and overseas borrowing to cope with capital inflows that have pushed up inflation and strengthened the rupiah this year. Bank Indonesia will also reintroduce a 30 percent cap on lenders’ short-term overseas borrowing to minimize the risk of sudden capital outflows, it said on Wednesday. Banks must set aside 5 percent of their total foreign exchange holdings as reserves as of March next year, up from 1 percent, Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Budi Mulya said at a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday. The reserve requirement will rise to 8 percent effective June next year.
CANADA
Economy doing well: official
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said the Canadian economy performed “very well” this year relative to other major economies. “The Canadian economy was, at least relative to its peers, performing very well,” Carney said on Wednesday in an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp, adding that the recovery prompted the central bank to unwind exceptional measures and begin raising interest rates. Bank of Canada raised its overnight target rate three times this year to 1 percent, before pausing in September.
SHIPPING
ADT to take control of port
An Abu Dhabi state-run company is taking operational control of the city’s port from neighboring Dubai’s port management firm DP World. DP World and Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT) said yesterday that ADT will assume management control of the Mina Zayed facility next year, once an existing management services agreement expires.
RETAIL
Carrefour opens India store
Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest retailer, opened its first wholesale store in India as it seeks to expand in emerging economies amid increased competition that is crimping margins in developed markets. The store is located east of New Delhi in the Shahadra neighborhood, the Paris-based retailer said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
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],”