AVIATION
easyJet to buy Airbus planes
British no-frills airline easyJet yesterday said it had agreed to buy 15 Airbus A320 single-aisle planes worth US$1.1 billion and had secured an option to buy another 33. “easyJet PLC today announced that it has reached agreement with Airbus to exercise existing options over 15 Airbus A320 aircraft for delivery between 2012 and 2014 and to secure new options over a further 33 A320 aircraft,” the company said. It added that “whilst the total list price for the 15 new A320 aircraft should be approximately US$1.1 billion ... easyJet has been granted substantial confidential price concessions” from European planemaker Airbus.
CONGLOMERATES
San Miguel eyes shipping
San Miguel Corp one of the Philippines’ largest companies, said yesterday it was planning a big investment in the local shipping industry, after a unit acquired a substantial stake in a Manila port. The company famous for its beer said it was setting aside an initial 20 billion pesos (US$457.5 million) for a project to house the supply requirements of its increasingly diverse businesses at a Manila harbor. “We advise that the company and its subsidiaries are evaluating the viability of constructing a centralized and integrated logistics complex within the Manila North Harbor area,” the listed firm said in a market disclosure.
ELECTRONICS
Motorola splits into two
Motorola split into two companies yesterday, marking the final step in the years-long breakup of the consumer electronics industry pioneer. Motorola began selling car radios in the 1930s, followed by TVs in the ‘40s and cellphones in the ‘80s. The breakup that began in 2008 is motivated by the desire to present two simple businesses to investors rather than one complicated one. Motorola split its consumer-oriented side, which makes cellphones, from the professional business of selling police radios and barcode scanners to government and corporate customers. The companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.
INTERNET
Hotmail back to normal
Microsoft Corp’s Hotmail service, the world’s most-used online e-mail system, is back to normal operations on Monday after some users over the weekend lost access to e-mails or found them transferred to a deleted mail folder. The world’s largest software company, which has more than 360 million Hotmail users, said it had “restored full e-mail access and recovered content to those who were affected.” Microsoft’s online message boards and Twitter were abuzz with complaints on Sunday about the Hotmail glitch. Microsoft said it was still investigating the root cause of the problem, which started four days ago.
BANKING
US bankruptcies rise 9%
US consumer bankruptcy filings rose 9 percent last year compared with 2009, reaching 1.53 million, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute — lower than its projection that bankruptcies would total 1.6 million. The pace of bankruptcy filings slowed in the last quarter, with fewer petitions in October and November than during the same period a year earlier, the Alexandria, Virginia-based institute said. The slowdown at the end of the year was the result of more consumers reducing debt and cutting spending, institute executive director Samuel Gerdano said on Monday.
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],”