TECHNOLOGY
Sony’s SmartWatch on sale
Sony on Thursday released an Internet-linked wristwatch powered by Google-backed Android software. SmartWatch gets online by connecting wirelessly to a wearer’s Android smartphone using Bluetooth technology, according to Sony. SmartWatch can switch from displaying time to acting as a touchscreen interface for smartphone information. Mini-applications tailored to add features to SmartWatch devices were available at the Google Play online shop.
SOUTH KOREA
Interest rates hold steady
The central bank yesterday held its key interest rate for a 10th straight month amid lingering concerns about inflation and slow economic recovery. Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo said its Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to hold the benchmark seven-day repo rate at 3.25 percent for this month. Consumer inflation fell to a 20-month low of 2.6 percent last month. However, inflation expectation — a key gauge for rate policy decisions — has hovered around the upper limit of the bank’s 2 to 4 percent target range over the past year.
ECONOMY
Spanish inflation slows
Inflation in Spain slowed again last month, reaching its lowest point since August 2010, according to final official data published yesterday. The consumer price index rose by 1.8 percent on a 12-month basis last month, the national statistics office Ine said in a statement. Inflation has been slowing nearly every month since April last year’s level of 3.5 percent, with the exception of September and October when it rose to 3 percent.
ECONOMY
Germany inflation slows
Inflation in Germany slowed last month as energy prices increased at a weaker pace than a year ago. Inflation eased to 2.3 percent from 2.5 percent in February, the Federal Statistics Office said yesterday, confirming a March 28 estimate. Prices rose 0.4 percent in the month. Energy prices rose 6.7 percent last month from a year earlier, the statistics office said. If energy prices were stripped out of the index, Germany’s non-harmonized inflation rate would have been 1.6 percent last month instead of 2.1 percent, it said.
STEEL
India challenges US duties
India has launched a trade dispute to challenge US duties on certain steel products, the WTO said on Thursday. The WTO gave no details, but said India had “requested consultations” with the US — the first stage of a formal trade dispute — over US countervailing duties. The US Commerce Department last month set a preliminary import duty of nearly 286 percent on a circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from India to offset government subsidies. A final decision on duty rates is expected by August.
SOFTWARE
Infosys profit rises 27%
Indian software exporter Infosys yesterday said its quarterly profit rose 27 percent, but its shares tumbled on a lower than expected growth forecast. The NASDAQ-listed firm said clients were cautious in an uncertain global economic environment as it announced a consolidated net profit of 23.16 billion rupees (US$454 million) in the three months to last month. Profit was 18.2 billion rupees in the year earlier period. Infosys forecast its full-year dollar-based revenue for the new fiscal year which started April 1, at US$7.55 billion to US$7.69 billion, an 8 to 10 percent rise.
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