Shares in South Korean casino and resort operators and construction firms spiked yesterday, buoyed by expectations that Pyeongchang’s hosting of the 2018 Winter Olympics could pump tens of billions of dollars into the economy.
At an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting, South Korea won the right to host the contest at the third attempt, capping a decade-long campaign to bring winter sports to this rustic town, and sparking all-night celebrations.
A study by the Hyundai Research Institute has said hosting the 2018 Games would inject 65 trillion won (US$61 billion) into Asia’s fourth-largest economy through investment, spending and spin-off consumption.
PHOTO: EPA/YONHAP NEWS AGENCY
On the Seoul stock exchange, Seunghwa Premium Construction Co surged to its daily limit of 15 percent on expectations the builder might be involved in the construction of a highway to Pyeongchang.
Hyundai Cement, which owns a resort in Gangwon Province, home to Pyeongchang, also surged 15 percent, while shares in casino operator Kangwon Land jumped as much as 9.5 percent.
The winning bid was a coup for Korea Inc as major conglomerates threw their support behind the bid, which was headed by Cho Yang-ho, chairman of flag carrier Korean Air Lines. Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee is the country’s sole IOC member.
Japan is the only Asian country to host a Winter Olympics — in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.
Pyeongchang ran under the slogan “New Horizons,” arguing Asia’s stellar economic growth in recent decades and the continent’s massive population offered an untapped market for winter sports.
South Korea hosted the Summer Games in 1988 and the World Cup soccer finals together with Japan in 2002.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained