PORTUGAL
Moody’s downgrades ratings
Moody’s Investors Service yesterday downgraded Portugal’s ratings by a notch from A3 to Baa1 and warned that it expected a further cut given the country’s budgetary, political and economic uncertainties. Moody’s said its decision was “driven primarily by increased political, budgetary and economic uncertainty, which increase the risk that the government will be unable to achieve [its] ambitious deficit reduction targets” up to 2014.
INSURANCE
Disaster losses mount
British insurer Amlin said its natural disaster losses in the first quarter could be as high as £275 million (US$444.5 million), including a hit of up to £150 million from the Japanese earthquake. Amlin, the biggest listed insurer operating in the Lloyd’s of London market, yesterday provisionally estimated its Japanese quake loss at between £80 million and £150 million, based on a total industry loss of US$12 billion to US$25 billion. The quake that hit New Zealand in February could cost £110 million, while flooding in Queensland the previous month will add another £15 million, Amlin said.
ECONOMIC THEORY
Washington consensus over
The liberal theories that have guided the global economy for the past 30 years need to be overhauled, according to the head of the IMF — an institution long seen as their chief cheerleader. The IMF’s Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a speech on Monday that the “Washington consensus” — a set of liberal theories that stress the efficiency of the free market — were antiquated. “The Washington consensus is now behind us,” Strauss-Kahn told students in Washington, reflecting on lessons learned from the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
TECHNOLOGY
Apps in US privacy probe
The US is investigating how customer data is used by some popular applications that run on the mobile platforms of Apple Inc and Google Inc. Online radio service Pandora said in a regulatory filing on Monday it was subpoenaed by a US Federal grand jury requesting information. It believes it is not the target of the investigation and that similar subpoenas were issued on an industry-wide basis to the publishers of numerous other smartphone applications. The Web radio company has more than 80 million registered users, some of whom use mobile apps to access the music service beyond their personal computers.
FAST FOOD
McDonald’s up-sizes hiring
McDonald’s on Monday unwrapped a Big Mac-sized hiring event, saying it hopes to add up to 50,000 employees in the US in a single day this month. The McJobs blitz will be on April 19, when nearly 14,000 restaurants will seek new crew and managers for both full and part-time positions, the fast-food giant said. “Our national hiring event is an opportunity to invite more people across the country to join our team and learn that a McJob is one with career growth and endless possibilities,” said Jan Fields, president of McDonald’s US, in a statement.
MINING
Vale appoints new executive
Brazilian mining conglomerate Vale, the world’s leading iron producer, announced on Monday that its shareholders have selected former company executive Murilo Ferreira to lead the firm. Ferreira, who replaces Roger Agnelli, will take over May 22, a company statement said. The appointment requires approval by Vale’s board of directors.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is