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.
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],”