INSURANCE
Irene costs insurers US$7bn
Hurricane Irene, which lashed the US east coast at the end of last month, will cost insurers about US$7 billion, the world’s top reinsurer Munich Re said on Friday. The estimate is considerably higher than the US$1.8billion to US$6 billion calculated by risk-assessment firms Eqecat and AirWorldwide. Munich Re said that because of continued flooding in the northeastern US, there remains considerable uncertainty to the loss estimates. The figure does not include damage covered under the US National Flood Insurance Program, it added. The reinsurer has already said that this year has been the worst year in history in terms of losses because of natural catastrophe, but still expects to finish this year with a net profit.
ECONOMY
Japan fears strength of yen
Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi asked US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to understand the risks posed by the yen’s strength when they met yesterday morning in Marseille, France. Azumi said he is concerned the currency’s appreciation might hamper the recovery from the earthquake, tsunami and radiation disaster that struck the nation this year, a senior Japanese finance ministry official said on condition of anonymity. The yen touched the strongest level in 10 years against the euro on Friday as concern about Greece’s fiscal health intensified. Countries including Japan and Switzerland have had to contend with gains in their currencies as a slowing US economy and deepening sovereign-debt woes in Europe boost investor demand for save-haven assets.
BANKING
Swiss bend on US demands
Switzerland’s government has “partially” agreed to a Washington ultimatum that information on US nationals who have money in the country be handed over, local media reported yesterday. According to the Swiss daily TagesAnzeiger, Swiss authorities, in a confidential letter to 10 local banks, said the US request could “be partially agreed upon,” but that the data transfer would have to be done by the banks themselves, not the government. The letter said the banks would need to provide data on banking activities only going back to Sept. 30, 2009. Prior to that date, information should only be provided “if there is a violation of US legislation or obvious tax fraud,” the newspaper said.
INTERNET
AOL shares drop 5 percent
AOL shares shed 5 percent on Wall Street on Friday amid reports the Internet company had reached out to Yahoo about a potential merger. Bloomberg news agency reported that AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong is in talks with advisers to Yahoo following the firing this week of Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz, who rebuffed a previous approach. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg said Armstrong has talked with private equity firms and investment bankers from Allen & Co working with Yahoo. AOL shares lost 5.28 percent in New York to close at US$14.72.
GREECE
Police out in case of riots
About 5,000 police were being deployed in Thessaloniki in case of riots at anti--austerity protests ahead of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s annual speech on the economy. At least seven separate marches had been called for yesterday afternoon in Greece’s second-largest city. Organizers include the barely-solvent country’s two biggest labor unions, students, anarchists, taxi drivers and others. Previous anti-austerity protests have triggered riots.
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],”