BRAZIL
Central bank cuts rate
The central bank on Wednesday again cut its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 9.75 percent — the sixth rate cut in the past eight months — in an effort to boost the sluggish economy. The bank’s monetary policy committee justified the new cut — which mirrored last month’s cut of 75 basis points — by citing the “limited risk” to further inflation. With inflation now coming under control, the government of President Dilma Rousseff wants to focus on boosting economic growth, which slowed to 2.7 percent last year, from 7.5 percent in 2010.
AUTOMAKERS
Audi to open plant in Mexico
Audi officials say the carmaker will open a new plant in Mexico that should begin production of an SUV model starting in 2016. Officials said in a statement released in Germany on Tuesday that they would decide on a location for the factory later this year. The parent group Volkswagen AG already has an automotive plant in Puebla and an engine plant in Silao, both in central Mexico. Officials did not say how much money they would invest on the plant or how many jobs it would create. Audi AG chairman Rupert Stadler said the company chose Mexico because it was one of the world’s top 10 automotive locations and “offers a blend of tradition and experience.”
AUTOMAKERS
Ford plans Hangzhou plant
Ford Motor Co says it plans to build a US$760 million auto assembly plant in Hangzhou, China. The new factory will double Ford’s production capacity in China as it strives to catch up with its global rivals in the world’s biggest auto market. Ford said yesterday that the plant would add annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles when it begins operations in early 2015. Along with a recently announced new plant in Ford’s main production base in Chongqing, China, Ford will double its current annual capacity to 1.2 million vehicles. The new factory brings Ford’s total investment in China to US$4.9 billion.
BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola, Spotify partner
Spotify and soft drink superstar Coca-Cola on Wednesday announced they will combine the global beverage company’s reach and brand appeal with Spotify’s online music platform. The partnership will include Coca-Cola software applications that tap into the Spotify platform. The first new app will be unveiled for the Olympics in London, Coca-Cola said. Spotify, which was launched in Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s native Sweden in 2008, boasts a library of 15 million tracks and is adding about 20,000 a day. It has more than 10 million active users and 2.5 million paying subscribers.
CREDIT CARDS
Amex usage up 12 percent
American Express (Amex) said on Wednesday that its cardholders charged 12 percent more in the first three months of this year than a year earlier, and past-due accounts stayed at historic lows. The figures helped the company beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly earnings and added to evidence that the well-off are feeling more comfortable about increasing their spending than other income groups. The average American Express household brings in US$97,000 a year, compared with US$71,000 for credit card customers overall, according to industry research. The company said it earned US$1.25 billion, or US$1.07 per share, in the first quarter. Earnings were 7 percent higher than the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 8 percent to US$7.6 billion.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is