SINGAPORE
Exports grow faster
Export growth unexpectedly accelerated last month as an increase in chemical and pharmaceutical shipments offset a decline in sales of electronics goods. Non-oil domestic exports climbed 10 percent from a year earlier, after a revised 6.9 percent gain in February, the city-state’s trade promotion agency said in a statement yesterday. The median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 5 percent. While shipments to Japan fell last month after the north Asian nation’s strongest earthquake on record led to a nuclear power crisis, exporters are increasing sales to China, Europe and the US. Non-electronics shipments, which include petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, increased 24.5 percent. Pharmaceutical shipments added 4.4 percent after advancing 1.3 percent in February.
ELECTRONICS
Toshiba to save electricity
Toshiba Corp plans to adjust work hours and have staff take longer holidays to save electricity over the summer after the March 11 earthquake caused power shortages in Japan. The electronics maker aims to have staff take “several weeks” of holidays in rotating groups between mid-June and September and work on Saturdays instead of some weekdays. The company plans to shift some production hours to weekends and nights at its plant, temporarily move servers outside of the areas affected by shortages and adjust lighting and air conditioning at its offices, according to a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung may sell disc unit
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics is considering selling its loss-making hard-disc-drive business to raise cash for investment in new growth areas, a report said yesterday. Samsung is looking for a price of US$1.5 billion, but may consider a deal under US$1 billion, the Wall Street Journal said. A potential buyer is US-based hard-disc maker Seagate Technology, which accounted for 29 percent of such shipments in the fourth quarter of last year, it said. Samsung, which held about a 10.7 percent share of the global hard-disc-drive market in the fourth quarter, declined to comment on the report.
INDUSTRIES
Tata to invest US$30bn
India’s giant Tata Group has said it will invest almost US$30 billion mainly in the domestic market over the next five years as it seeks to double revenues to US$150 billion. The group, which has about 100 companies under its wing, said it plans to invest the money in sectors such as power, steel, automobiles, telecoms and chemicals. “We have become a significant player globally in each of the sectors that we are present in,” Tata Industries managing director Kishor Chaukar said in a weekend interview with the Press Trust of India.
HEALTHCARE
US giant in takeover talks
Swiss medical technology group Synthes said yesterday it was in takeover talks with US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, after media reports of a possible deal worth about US$20 billion. “In response to market speculation, Synthes Inc confirms that it is engaged in discussions with Johnson & Johnson about a potential business combination transaction,” the medical equipment maker said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the US group was in talks to buy Synthes in a deal that could be valued at about US$20 billion.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure