GERMANY
Inflation jumps to 2.3%
Inflation in Germany jumped to 2.3 percent for the whole of last year, its highest level in three years and above European Central Bank targets, official data showed yesterday. Soaring energy prices pushed the consumer price index for the eurozone’s largest economy up by an annual average 2.3 percent last year, compared with 1.1 percent in 2010 and 0.4 percent in 2009, the national statistics office Destatis said in a statement. Excluding energy prices, inflation would have reached only 1.3 percent last year, the statisticians calculated. The European Central Bank aims to keep inflation in the 17-nation eurozone close to, but below 2 percent. Inflation in Germany exceeded that level in every month last year, Destatis said.
INDIA
Industrial production rises
India’s industrial production rebounded in November, government data showed yesterday, providing some relief to Asia’s third-largest economy, which has been struggling with slowing growth and high inflation. Industrial production grew 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, thanks to revived consumer spending, the data showed. Output shrank 4.7 percent in October, a bit less than estimated earlier. However, economists caution that industrial production numbers are choppy and say the Reserve Bank is unlikely to reverse months of rate hikes when it meets later this month, unless it gets strong evidence that inflation is cooling.
JAPAN
Current account surplus falls
Japan’s current account surplus fell 85.5 percent in November as the nation ran a trade deficit because of higher energy costs, government data showed yesterday. The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of its trade with the rest of the world, was down year-on-year for the ninth straight month since the March earthquake and tsunami disasters. The surplus for November stood at ¥138.5 billion (US$1.8 billion), with the trade deficit reaching ¥585.1 billion against a surplus of ¥256.2 billion a year earlier.
CHINA
Vehicle sales rise slightly
Industry figures show vehicle sales in China rose a scant 2.5 percent in 2010 as higher prices and traffic controls kept buyers out of showrooms, but the market remained the world’s biggest. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported yesterday that total vehicle sales rose to 18.5 million last year, up from 18 million in 2009, when sales rose 32 percent. In contrast, US auto sales jumped 10 percent to 12.8 million vehicles last year. The expiration of tax incentives and subsidies, along with restrictions on car purchases in Beijing, slowed sales, which had grown at a double-digit pace every year since 1999 — apart from in 2008, at the height of the global crisis.
AUTOMAKERS
Fiat, Chrysler rumor ‘untrue’
Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC might consider looking for a “third partner” before Chrysler returns to the stock market in 2013, CEO Sergio Marchionne said yesterday in an interview in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Marchionne said it “isn’t true” that Fiat and Chrysler want to buy General Motor Co’s Opel unit in Europe or are seeking a combination with PSA Peugeot Citroen, according to the newspaper. “I was at dinner on Tuesday with Philippe Varin, the CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroen, and we talked about everything except” a possible merger, Rzeczpospolita quoted Marchionne as saying.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San