MACHINERY
December orders fell 7%
Japan’s machinery orders fell at the fastest pace in three months in December as a faltering global economy and gains by the yen dimmed the outlook for exporters. Orders, an indicator of capital spending, decreased 7.1 percent from November, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo yesterday, after surging 15 percent that month. For the full year, core orders rose 7.8 percent. Bookings are expected to rise 2.3 percent in the January-March period from the previous quarter, supported by the government’s massive spending programs to rebuild areas hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
INTERNET
Zuckerberg’s bonus rate set
Facebook’s top executives — including CEO Mark Zuckerberg — are eligible for twice-a-year bonuses of up to 45 percent of their base salaries and other earnings, according to a Wednesday regulatory filing. Facebook Inc said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it would pay Zuckerberg, 27, a base salary of US$500,000 per year. Zuckerberg’s 45 percent target bonus will be based on his performance. Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg will receive a base salary of US$300,000. Her target bonus is also 45 percent. David Ebersman will continue to serve as chief financial officer and he will get a base salary of US$300,000.
AUTOMOBILES
Toyota to expand US plant
Toyota said it would expand its factory in Princeton, Indiana, and add 400 jobs so it can build more Highlander sports utility vehicles (SUV).
The hiring and expansion will come next year. Toyota said it would invest US$400 million in the factory to build 50,000 more Highlanders per year. The plant built more than 101,000 units last year. The company said it plans to stop making Highlanders in Japan and move that production to Indiana. After the changes, Toyota will be able to build about 255,000 Highlanders a year in Princeton and in China. The Princeton plant currently employs nearly 4,000 people who make Sienna minivans and the Highlander and Sequoia SUVs.
AIRLINES
Airlines to check A380s
Qantas Airways and Korean Air will carry out inspections for wing cracks on their Airbus A380 superjumbo planes earlier than previously scheduled, after European air safety officials ordered global checks, warning of a safety risk if the defects were not fixed. “This condition, if not detected and corrected, may lead to a reduction of the structural integrity of the aeroplane,” the European Air Safety Agency said in its directive to airlines. Singapore Airlines has been carrying out precautionary inspections of its A380s since Jan. 20 and has been forced to repair eight aircraft, the airline said. Australia’s Qantas Airways has already grounded one A380 for a week after discovering 36 separate wing cracks after a turbulent flight from London.
MINING
Rio Tinto profit falls 59%
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto yesterday reported a 59 percent slump in annual net earnings to US$5.8 billion and its chief refused his bonus due to write-offs from its aluminium business. An impairment charge of US$8.9 billion related to its troubled Alcan assets, undercutting record profit of US$15.5 billion last year, prompted Rio chief Tom Albanese to forgo his bonus. The record profit, on unprecedented cashflows of US$27.4 billion, were up 11 percent from a year ago.
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