FINANCE
Soros won’t buy Italy bonds
Soros Fund Management chairman George Soros said he holds some Italian bonds, but that he was not buying more because of uncertainty, Handelszeitung reported, citing an interview with the billionaire investor. “If I could trust that politics do the right thing, I would hurry to buy,” Soros was cited as saying. “But there is too much uncertainty for me to buy more.” Soros said he was “convinced” that the funds of the European Financial Stability Facility are enough to end the “acute phase” of the crisis. He said it was “not too late,” to take the right measures. Soros said it would be better if banks did not have to raise capital and were asked to maintain the size of their balance sheets. Europe needs to “stand together and the euro must be saved,” he was quoted as saying.
SOLAR PANELS
Solyndra postpones auction
Solyndra LLC, the failed solar panel maker at the center of a political firestorm in Washington, did not receive any acceptable bids by a Wednesday night deadline, and postponed an auction for its California manufacturing plant for two months. The extra time will allow potential “turnkey” buyers to examine Solyndra’s assets, the company’s lawyers said in a notice filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. The postponement came hours before a Capitol Hill hearing, where Republicans are expected to grill US Energy Secretary Steven Chu over his role in decisions on a US$535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra. Chu has said the Energy Department restructured the debt when the company ran out of cash in a last-chance deal.
UNITED STATES
Big ‘Black Friday’ expected
US retailers can expect more consumers for this year’s “Black Friday,” the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, according to a survey. About 74 million consumers, or a third, say they were “definitely” planning to shop during the three days following Thanksgiving on Nov. 24, up from 27 percent last year, according to the survey conducted for the National Retail Federation (NRF) by BIGresearch. Another 77 million say they would weigh the offerings first before deciding whether to venture out. Chains including Target Corp, Macy’s Inc and Best Buy Co have announced plans to open on Thanksgiving to capture holiday sales that the NRF says may rise 2.8 percent this year, or about half of last year’s gain. Retailers dangle doorbusters and other specials on the day after Thanksgiving, called Black Friday, to lure shoppers trolling for bargains. Consumers are still coping with near-record unemployment of 9 percent and a sluggish housing market. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s largest retailer, this week reported profit that trailed analysts’ estimates after holding down prices.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Rambus loses Hynix lawsuit
South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s No. 2 memorychip maker, yesterday welcomed a US court’s rejection of claims by US firm Rambus for billions of US dollars in damages. A San Francisco jury ruled on Wednesday that Hynix and US-based chipmaker Micron Technology did not conspire to prevent Rambus’ technology from taking hold in the market. “We welcome the jury’s decision,” Hynix chief executive Kwon Oh-chul said in a statement. “The ruling drastically reduces uncertainties hanging over the company’s future.” Rambus had sought nearly US$4 billion from the two firms in direct damages, a sum that could be instantly tripled under California anti-trust laws. It also asked for punitive damages.
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],”