MINERALS
Rare earth war unlikely: WTO
The head of the WTO yesterday played down a dispute over China’s controls on exports of rare earth minerals, saying it was unlikely to escalate into a trade war. The US, EU and Japan have lodged a complaint with the WTO against China over its curbs on the shipments of the commodities, which are vital in the manufacture of high-tech goods. However, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said: “Since the dispute settlement has been set up, no trade dispute has generated a trade war. That’s the experience of the past. I have no reason to doubt that ... it will be different now.”
SINGAPORE
Growth of 2.5% forecast
The city-state’s central bank said a survey of analysts showed the economy would likely grow 2.5 percent this year, less than the previous estimate. The survey of 23 analysts released yesterday by the central bank showed that growth would likely be led by financial services expanding 4 percent and manufacturing up 3.1 percent. The government expects GDP to expand between 1 percent and 3 percent this year, down from 4.9 percent last year. The survey predicted the inflation rate would probably fall to 3.5 percent this year from 5.5 percent last year, while the exchange rate will end the year at S$1.23 per US dollar.
UNITED KINGDOM
Tax cuts for rich planned
The government intends to cut income tax for the country’s highest earners, and will announce details in next week’s annual budget, media reports said yesterday. Finance minister George Osborne is likely to use his budget to announce he is reducing the top rate of income tax from 50 percent to 40 percent, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing government sources. Osborne is under pressure from the right wing of his Conservative Party and business leaders to slash the top rate to stimulate growth and boost the economic recovery.
INTERNET
PayPal to expand in Asia
PayPal Asia-Pacific chief Rupert Keeley said yesterday the US company planned to expand in the region over the next 12 to 18 months, after it launched the region’s first payments service for smartphones. Australia and Hong Kong were the first countries in the region to have the new mobile system, but Keeley said it would soon be available in other markets, including mainland China.
AEROSPACE
United Tech selling units
United Technologies said on Thursday that it would sell its rocket engine and wind power businesses to help finance its US$16.5 billion purchase of aerospace supplier Goodrich Corp. The Hartford, Connecticut-based industrial conglomerate, seeing a murky future in space travel and alternative energy, said it would sell Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Clipper Windpower and its three industrial businesses at its Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace components manufacturer. It expects to raise US$3 billion from the sales.
DELIVERIES
UPS in talks with TNT
United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) said it extended takeover talks with TNT Express NV, Europe’s second- largest high-speed parcel delivery service. UPS “remains in constructive discussions with TNT regarding a potential transaction to acquire the entire issued share capital,” the Atlanta-based company said yesterday in a statement. TNT rebuffed UPS’ initial 4.89 billion euro (US$6.4 billion) offer equal to 9 euros per share received on Feb. 11.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts