APPAREL
Pierre Cardin to sell firm
French fashion legend Pierre Cardin is ready to sell his group and will seek 1 billion euros (US$1.48 billion), he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published yesterday. “I want to sell it now,” Cardin, 88, told the US business daily. “I know I won’t be here in a few years and the business needs to continue.” The report noted that banks estimate the value of the group, founded in 1949, at 200 million euros, though financial information on the sprawling fashion empire is sketchy. Cardin, who has no heirs, said he wants to stay on as creative director, explaining that it would be in the buyer’s interest “for the brand’s image.”
PHARMACEUTICAL
Teva to purchase Taiyo
Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has decided to buy Japan’s third-largest generic drug company, Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co Ltd, for about US$500 million, the Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun newspaper said yesterday. Teva, the world’s top generic drug maker, will likely take control of Taiyo by purchasing a majority stake from the founding family and other shareholders, it said. Teva started a Japanese unit in 2005 and formed a generic drug joint venture, Teva-Kowa Pharma, with mid-tier Japanese pharmaceutical firm Kowa Co Ltd in 2008. It appears that Teva is looking to mainly use Taiyo for production and Teva-Kowa for sales, the Nikkei said.
AUTOMAKERS
Saab to partner with Hawtai
Spyker Cars says it has secured US$223 million in funds for troubled Saab Automobile AB through an agreement with China’s Hawtai Motor Group (華泰汽車集團) that also includes joint ventures on manufacturing, technology and distribution. Spyker said yesterday the deal is subject to approval from Chinese government agencies, the European Investment Bank and the Swedish National Debt Office. Saab’s production has been at a standstill since April 6 because of a lack of funds. On Monday it said it had secured short-term loans of US$88 million and aims to restart production within a week.
CHIPMAKERS
Infineon raises forecast
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second-largest chipmaker, raised its full-year forecast for the fifth time since the beginning of last year as second-quarter revenues and profits surged on higher demand. Sales in the 12 months through September will gain 20 percent from 3.3 billion euros a year earlier and operating profit will be “broadly in line” with the 19.8 percent of revenues achieved in the first half, Infineon said in a statement yesterday. Second-quarter net income more than doubled from the previous quarter to 572 million euros. Sales gained 7.8 percent to 994 million euros from the previous quarter, the company said.
ELECTRONICS
New BlackBerry to hit market
Research In Motion Ltd is releasing a new version of one of its high-end BlackBerrys, updating the Bold with a touch screen and fresh software. T-Mobile USA Inc said it will carry the BlackBerry Bold 9900 later this year. Like the original Bold, launched in 2008, the 9900 has a keyboard under a 7.1cm screen in landscape orientation. It’s thinner than before, at just 10.5mm, making it the thinnest BlackBerry yet. Research in Motion last week cut its earnings and sales forecasts for the current quarter, saying it’s selling fewer and cheaper phones than expected.
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],”