ELECTRONICS
Philips warns of weak profit
Royal Philips Electronics NV yesterday warned that its fourth-quarter profits were worse than expected owing to a weak European market, making it harder to charge consumers as much as it wanted for light bulbs. Philips, the world’s largest lighting maker, is scheduled to report full earnings on Jan. 30. The company did not release profit or loss figures, but said free cash flow would be 1 billion euros (US$1.28 billion) versus 1.2 billion euros a year ago. Sales grew by a “mid single digit” amount, the company said.
RETAIL
Food lifts M&S’ sales
British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) yesterday said sales at its stores rose 0.5 percent in the final three months of last year, helped by a better-than-expected performance at its food unit. The group’s overall sales in Britain grew 0.5 percent in the 13 weeks to Dec. 31 compared with a year earlier, M&S said in a trading update published as much of Britain’s retail sector struggles to overcome a weak economic climate. Food sales rose 3 percent, above analyst expectations for a gain of 1.5 percent, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Sales of general merchandise, including clothing, dropped 1.8 percent in the period.
COMPENSATION
Cook likely topped pay list
Tim Cook could well end up being the highest-paid CEO in the US last year, after Apple Inc granted him 1 million restricted stock units in August for taking the reins shortly before co-founder Steve Jobs died. An Associated Press review of a securities filing shows Cook’s pay package was valued at US$378 million. The vast majority came in a grant of 1 million restricted stock units worth US$376 million at the time. Half of the stock units will vest in August 2016, the other half in August 2021. In comparison, Jobs accepted a US$1 annual salary for years and owned about 5.5 million shares, worth about US$2.3 billion today.
ENGINEERING
Siemens warns on earnings
German engineer Siemens said it would struggle to reach its full-year targets because the volatile global economy was forcing its clients to cut spending, German news Web site the Wall Street Journal Deutschland reported. Chief financial officer Joe Kaeser yesterday said it would require “tough work” to meet the company’s outlook, adding “our guidance is very ambitious.” Siemens has said it sees profit from continuing operations for its 2011/2012 year to September flat at 7.01 billion euros, excluding a 1 billion euro positive effect related to the exit from a nuclear power joint venture with French group Areva.
FRANCE
Economy flat in final quarter
The French economy was flat in the last three months of last year, the Bank of France said yesterday, confirming an earlier estimate amid concerns the eurozone debt crisis could spark a recession. The central bank said there was no growth between the third and fourth quarters of last year, an outcome which should allow the government to come very close to meeting its full-year target for a 1.5 percent expansion. Third-quarter growth came in at 0.3 percent, the national statistics institute INSEE said last month. On the basis of the third-quarter performance, the French economy should grow 1.7 percent growth for the year, it said.
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