INDIA
Industrial production slows
The country’s industrial production grew in September at the slowest pace in two years, hurt by record interest-rate increases and a faltering global recovery. Stocks extended declines. Output at factories, utilities and mines increased 1.9 percent from a year earlier after a revised 3.6 percent gain in August, the Central Statistical Office said in a statement in New Delhi yesterday. The median of 27 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 3.5 percent gain. The Reserve Bank of India last month signaled it was nearing the end of monetary tightening after it raised rates for the 13th time since mid-March last year to damp inflation. Nations across Asia are either cutting rates or keeping borrowing costs on hold.
ELECTRONICS
Google, LG working on TV
Google Inc and LG Electronics Inc might unveil a TV using the search giant’s software at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to two people with knowledge of the project. The product would be LG’s first model with Google TV, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are not public. Support from the world’s second-largest TV manufacturer might boost Google’s attempt to bring its dominance in Internet search to living rooms with the Google TV software. Last month, Google introduced a redesigned TV service after sales of its initial version did not meet some expectations. Google, boosting competition with rivals Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp, unveiled the TV service last year with partners Sony Corp, Logitech International SA and Dish Network Corp.
SPAIN
Economy stalled in Q3
The country’s economy stalled in the third quarter, undermining its efforts to shield itself from the sovereign debt crisis after Spanish and Italian borrowing costs surged to records. GDP was unchanged from the previous quarter, when it expanded 0.2 percent, the National Statistics Institute said yesterday in an e-mailed statement in Madrid. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 0.8 percent. The Bank of Spain estimated on Oct. 31 that the economy stalled in the third quarter and grew 0.7 percent for the year. The slowdown threatens Spain’s budget-deficit goals, the European Commission said on Thursday, meaning the government that emerges from the Nov. 20 general election might have to accelerate spending cuts to prevent the nation becoming the next victim of the debt crisis. The People’s Party, which polls show will win, has pledged to regain Spain’s “AAA” rating and tame borrowing costs without raising taxes or cutting pensions.
INSURANCE
Allianz Q3 profit drops 84%
Allianz SE, Europe’s biggest insurer, posted a bigger-than-estimated 84 percent drop in third-quarter profit after writedowns on Greek government debt and investments in financial companies. Net income fell to 196 million euros (US$267 million) from 1.26 billion euros a year earlier, the Munich-based insurer said in a statement yesterday. That compares with the 660 million euro average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Allianz said non-operating impairments totaled 931 million euros, including losses on investments in banks and insurers and a 122 million euro writedown on Greek debt. That helped almost double the firm’s tax rate. The insurer, led by Allianz chief executive officer Michael Diekmann, 56, reiterated its full-year operating profit target of between 7.5 billion euros and 8.5 billion euros.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is