ELECTRONICS
New iPad starts production
Apple Inc has started production of a thinner, more powerful version of its popular iPad tablet computers, according to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. The second-generation iPad will have more memory and a front-facing camera for capabilities such as a Face Time video-conferencing feature on Apple iPhone 4 smartphones, the Journal. said. Cupertino, California-based Apple said in its latest earnings release that it sold nearly 15 million iPads in the eight months after the tablet computers were introduced last April.
GERMANY
Exports edge up 0.5%
Exports increased for a second month in December as the global recovery boosted demand for goods and services from Europe’s largest economy. Exports, adjusted for work days and seasonal changes, rose 0.5 percent from November, when they increased 0.5 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said yesterday. Economists had forecast a gain of 1 percent, according to the median of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports dropped 2.3 percent from November, when they jumped 4.1 percent. The economy expanded a record 3.6 percent last year as companies boosted output and hiring to meet reviving global demand. With euro-region governments stepping up budget cuts, companies have relied on faster-growing markets to boost orders. BMW AG, the world’s largest luxury automaker, on Friday forecast “significant” sales growth.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan’s Q3 profit up 78%
Japanese giant Nissan Motor Co yesterday said net profit in the fiscal third quarter rose 78 percent as sales in Asia and China offset weak demand at home and the impact of a strong yen. Unlike its peers, Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan saw third-quarter profit rise despite the pressures of softer domestic demand as well as a strong yen making products more expensive overseas and eroding repatriated earnings. However, Japan’s big three automakers have all raised their annual net profit outlook, bolstered by their strong performances in the nine months to December, suggesting the industry is weathering the yen’s surge better than expected. Nissan said its net profit in the three months ended December was ¥80.1 billion (US$972 million), compared with ¥45 billion in the same period a year earlier.
INDONESIA
GDP forecast to rise 6.2%
The World Bank said yesterday that the nation’s GDP would grow 6.2 percent this year, a slight increase from last year, when the country was one of the best performing emerging economies. The bank maintained its growth forecast for this year made in September last year, saying the recent strength of investment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy was expected to continue. The country posted 6.1 percent growth last year compared with 4.5 percent in 2009, paving the way for the nation to achieve its target of 6.0 to 6.5 percent growth this year. World Bank country director for Indonesia Stefan Koeberle said that in order to achieve this target, Indonesia needed to deliver a favorable investment climate, improve infrastructure and find ways to create more and higher-quality jobs. The nation of 240 million people was largely unaffected by the global financial crisis, thanks to robust domestic demand and strong commodity exports.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last