ECONOMY
Latin America considers fund
The Union of South American Nations has proposed establishing a fund to serve as a regional response to international financial crises, Argentinian Minister of Economy Amado Boudou said on Friday. The fund could draw from monetary reserves or central banks from countries in the region, which manage about US$500 billion, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The funds would possibly be an extension of the Latin-American Reserve Funds (FLAR), which already serves as an assistance mechanism to its seven-member countries in case of financial turmoil. Created in 1978, FLAR brings together Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The two largest economies in the region, Brazil and Argentina, could increase the funds’ effectiveness if they decide to join.
TECHNOLOGY
Hacker claims new tricks
A mobile security expert says he has found new ways for hackers to attack phones running Google Inc’s Android operating system. Riley Hassell, who caused a stir when he called off an appearance at a hacker’s conference last week, said he and colleague Shane Macaulay decided not to lay out their research at the gathering for fear criminals would use it to attack Android phones. He said in an interview he identified more than a dozen widely used Android applications that make the phones vulnerable to attack. “App developers frequently fail to follow security guidelines and write applications properly,” he said. “Some apps expose themselves to outside contact. If these apps are vulnerable, then an attacker can remotely compromise that app and potentially the phone using something as simple as a text message.” He declined to identify those apps, saying he fears hackers might exploit the vulnerabilities. Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow said Android security experts discussed the research with Hassell and did not believe he had uncovered problems with Android.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda to build Mexico plant
Japanese automaker Honda announced plans on Friday to build a new plant in Mexico that will employ 3,200 people and build fuel-efficient subcompact vehicles for the Mexican, US and Canadian markets. Honda will invest US$800 million to build the plant, which is expected to begin operations in 2014 and will have the capacity to build 200,000 vehicles a year. “With growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, this plant will increase Honda’s ability to meet customer needs for subcompact vehicles from within North America,” said Tetsuo Iwamura, chief operating officer for Honda’s North America Region.
MINING
Union, negotiators to meet
South Africa’s mine workers union was to again meet negotiators at Impala Platinum yesterday in a bid to avert a wage strike that could hurt the world’s second-largest producer and curb growth in an already stagnant economy. The talks add to a wave of disputes that have already disrupted operations in the mining and fuel sectors. South Africa’s “strike season” is already expected to intensify when at least 145,000 municipal workers walk off the job tomorrow, disrupting garbage collection and other services in major cities. The National Union of Mineworkers, seeking a 14 percent raise for its 26,000 workers at Implats, has been discussing a revised, but as yet undisclosed offer from Implats. It has rejected the company’s previous offer of between 7.5 percent and 8 percent.
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],”