TECHNOLOGY
Jobs to host conference
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is taking a break from medical leave today to preside over the opening of the company’s annual conference for software developers. And in a break from Apple’s usual practice of shrouding its events in an air of mystery, the California gadget-maker this time revealed ahead of time some of what it plans to announce at the event in San Francisco. In a press release, Apple said Jobs and other executives will unveil the next generation of Lion, the software that powers Macintosh computers, and iOS 5, the next version of the mobile operating system for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple described the previously unknown iCloud as its “upcoming cloud services offering,” but provided no further details of what awaits at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
TECHNOLOGY
Hackers target Nintendo
Nintendo was targeted in a recent online data attack, but no personal or company information was lost, the Japanese maker of the Wii game console said yesterday. The server of an affiliate of Nintendo Co’s US unit was accessed unlawfully a few weeks ago, but there was no damage, company spokesman Ken Toyoda said. “There were no third-party victims,” Toyoda said, while declining to elaborate. “But it is a fact there was some kind of possible hacking attack.” The damage from what could be a recent spate of such data breaches targeting big-name brands was more serious at rival Sony Corp.
MARKETS
Regulator optimistic on MSCI
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) stock market regulator is “optimistic” about an upgrade at MSCI Inc, said Abdullah Al Turaifi, chief executive officer of the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority. He was speaking in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Index provider MSCI will announce on June 21 its decision on whether to upgrade the UAE and Qatar to emerging market status from frontier market status.
FOODSTUFFS
Asda to make Iceland bid
Asda, the UK supermarket chain owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, plans to bid for Iceland Foods Ltd, the UK-based frozen-food chain, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information. William Morrison Supermarkets PLC and Malcolm Walker, the chief executive officer of Iceland Foods, are also interested in buying the company, which is being sold by creditors of the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki Islands HF, the newspaper reported. Iceland Foods is valued at between £1.2 billion (US$2 billion) and £1.6 billion, the Sunday Times said.
ITALY
Ease budget: Berlusconi ally
One of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s closest political allies called yesterday for tight clamps on public spending to be eased to boost growth, dismissing fears of a Greek-style budget crisis. In an interview with the daily La Repubblica, Culture Minister Giancarlo Galan, a Berlusconi loyalist since the billionaire media entrepreneur began his political career in 1994, attacked Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti. “I am absolutely convinced that if we don’t change course as far as economic policy is concerned, we will lose the elections,” he said. “We may get to 2013 [when elections are due,] but we would be a government without any consensus in a country with its accounts in order.” The comments are the latest to point to division in Berlusconi’s center-right government over economic policy and the position of Tremonti.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks