THAILAND
Infrastructure plan outlined
Thailand will spend more than US$70 billion on infrastructure over the next five years, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said as she outlined the challenges facing the country after last year’s floods. In an address late on Friday to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Yingluck said her government would pursue an economic policy aimed at boosting domestic demand. It would also “approve a five-year plan to invest around [US]$72 billion in infrastructure and property enhancing Thailand’s long-term competitiveness and to improve the quality of life of Thai people,” she said, pointing to a planned high speed train line from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
GREECE
Swap deadline extended
The country on Friday extended to April 4 a deadline for its creditors to swap 8.1 billion euros (US$10.7 billion) in debt as part of an historic bond exchange that has already erased nearly a third of its debt mountain. Holders of Greek debt issued under foreign law had until 8pm to join the so-called Private Sector Involvement that was hammered out last month after months of negotiations with global banks and eurozone states. However, as the deadline expired, the finance ministry issued a statement saying creditors would have two more weeks to decide. Out of about 27.2 billion euros’ worth of bonds and state utility loans guaranteed by the country under foreign law, holders of 19.1 billion euros have already opted to join the initiative.
UNITED STATES
Less need for QE: Fed heads
Two Federal Reserve district bank presidents said the strengthening economy is reducing the need for additional monetary easing. “As the US economy continues to rebound and repair,” additional steps “may create an overcommitment to ultra-easy monetary policy,” St Louis Fed President James Bullard said in a speech yesterday in Hong Kong. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said in Washington that “we should hold the balance sheet where it is for the time being and watch how the economy evolves.” The remarks from Lockhart and Bullard, who have never dissented from a decision by the Federal Open Market Committee, reflect broadening sentiment on the panel against further steps to spur growth. The Fed has held interest rates near zero since 2008 and purchased US$2.3 trillion in bonds to spur growth after unemployment rose to as high as 10 percent in 2009. The jobless rate is now 8.3 percent, and the economy has been expanding for more than two years. JPMorgan Chase & Co chief US economist Michael Feroli said he did not believe the central bank wanted to push forward with more asset purchases, known as quantitative easing (QE), “given where the inflation data are.”
FINANCE
Credit Suisse CEO’s pay cut
Credit Suisse Group AG chief executive Brady Dougan took a more than 50 percent pay cut last year as the bank’s earnings slumped 62 percent and its stock tumbled 41 percent, the bank said on Friday. Yet Dougan still drew criticism for banking 5.8 million Swiss francs (US$6.3 million) in salary and share-based bonuses, which the Swiss lender said recognized his contribution to long-term strategy. Dougan, paid SF12.8 million in 2010, did not comment. Through a host of past share-based bonus programs, he holds Credit Suisse stock worth more SF22.6 million and another SF5.1 million worth of shares yet to vest.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six