PHARMACEUTICALS
Shire to buy firm
British pharmaceuticals group Shire yesterday said it had agreed to buy US company and tissue repair specialist Advanced BioHealing for US$750 million in cash. Under the deal, Shire will acquire the US group’s skin substitute product Dermagraft, which is used to treat diabetic foot ulcers. “The potential to build on the success of Dermagraft is attractive,” Mike Cola, president of Shire’s Specialty Pharmaceuticals business, said in a statement. “It’s already a leading product providing a solution for a common complication suffered by diabetics in the US that, if not treated effectively, can lead to lower limb amputation and high cost to patients and society.”
ELECTRONICS
Intel shifts chip focus
Intel CEO Paul Otellini says his company’s focus is shifting toward power--saving chips as smartphones and tablets account for a rising share of the computer market. Intel will aim for power consumption of 15 watts as a midpoint. Now, the midpoint for chips for laptops is around 35 watts. Otellini said tablets based on Intel chips are expected later this year and smartphones are due early next year, and those new devices in turn will boost demand for servers — many of which use Intel chips. He said one server is needed to handle the traffic from every 600 smartphones or 122 tablets.
HONG KONG
Mercantile Exchange opens
A new commodity exchange began trading yesterday as the territory attempts to challenge established markets in Europe and the US. The only product available to trade so far on the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange is a futures contract for 1kg of gold with physical delivery in the territory. However, there are plans for other products involving precious and base metals, agriculture, energy and commodity indexes. Officials have also hinted at products denominated in yuan as investor demand grows for China’s gradually strengthening currency.
MINING
Xstrata to close Mount Isa
Diversified Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata said yesterday it would close down its copper smelting activities at Mount Isa and refining in Townsville over the next few years, with 500 jobs reportedly under threat. Xstrata Copper North Queensland chief operating officer Steve de Kruijff cited challenging market conditions as the reason for the closure. He said the operations would be phased out by the end of 2016. A report in the Australian newspaper said up to 500 jobs could be lost. However, the company will expand its Mount Isa mining and concentrate production operations, and potentially develop new mines in the region, it said in a statement.
LABOR
Starbucks sued over firing
The US government is suing Starbucks, saying the coffee company fired a barista in El Paso, Texas, because she is a dwarf. When the employee asked for a stool or small stepladder to perform her job, Starbucks denied the request and fired her that same day, claiming that she could be a danger to customers and workers, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The commission, which filed the lawsuit on Monday, said that Starbucks violated federal law by denying a reasonable accommodation to the employee, who was hired in July 2009 and was fired after three days of training.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six