BEVERAGES
Starbucks unveils new logo
Starbucks Corp unveiled a simplified new logo on Wednesday that focuses on its mermaid symbol and removes the company name from around the border of the “siren.” The world’s biggest coffee company’s logo had been unchanged since Starbucks went public in 1992. The new, all-green logo lands as Starbucks plans to expand the number of branded products it sells outside its own cafes. “Even though we have been and always will be a coffee company and retailer, it’s possible we’ll have other products with our name on it and no coffee in it,” Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said.
AVIATION
Asiana to buy six A380s
South Korea’s Asiana Airlines said yesterday it had agreed to buy six Airbus A380 superjumbos in a deal worth US$1.8 billion as it tries to cash in on booming demand from China and the rest of Asia. The country’s second-largest carrier said the European manufacturer had agreed to deliver the planes between 2014 and 2017, adding they would be used on routes to Europe and the US. The agreement, worth 2.04 trillion won (US$1.8 billion), comes as an easing of visa rules on South Korean visitors to the US and an ever-growing number of Chinese travelers fans demand for lucrative trans-Pacific flights.
AUTOMOBILES
France facing ‘war’: minister
French Industry Minister Eric Besson yesterday warned the country was facing “economic war” following an industrial espionage scandal at automaker Renault. “Unfortunately, the affair appears serious,” Besson said on RTL radio, after discussing the issue with Renault management. “The expression ‘economic war,’ while sometimes outrageous, for once is appropriate.” Renault said on Wednesday it had suspended three managers for leaking secrets about electric cars, with the company staking its future on producing environmentally friendly vehicles for the general market.
UNITED STATES
Private sector hiring surges
A surprising surge in private hiring reported on Wednesday spurred hopes that the government’s jobs data this week will confirm the ailing labor market is on the road to recovery. The private sector added a seasonally adjusted 297,000 jobs last month, more than triple the number created in November, private payrolls firm ADP said. The jump soared above the consensus forecast of 100,000 new private-sector payrolls, and marked the fourth straight month of overall gains. The ADP report came ahead of today’s official monthly jobs data, a key gauge of the economy’s health that includes government payrolls.
UNITED STATES
SEC reviewing reporting rules
Federal regulators are reviewing reporting rules for private companies after an investment deal between Facebook and Goldman Sachs helped the social networking giant delay going public, according to a published report. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started to examine its rules following Goldman Sachs’ US$500 million investment in Facebook and other deals involving Internet companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The rules require companies with 500 or more shareholders to publicly report financial information. Facebook’s deal with Goldman Sachs creates a special fund that allows the social network site to stay under that threshold even though some investors will be able to buy up to US$1.5 billion in Facebook shares.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six