AUTOMAKERS
Nissan eyes bigger profits
Nissan Motor Co’s profit in the January-to-March period more than doubled to ¥75.3 billion (US$941 million) as the Japanese automaker achieved record sales, despite production disruptions from last year’s tsunami. Nissan annual global sales reached a record 4.85 million vehicles, showing a remarkably quick recovery from the earthquake that ravaged much of northeastern Japan in March last year, the Yokohama-based manufacturer said yesterday. Nissan continues to be bullish — expecting to sell 5.35 million vehicles this fiscal year, up 10 percent for another record. It also raised its forecasts for the fiscal year through March 2013 to ¥400 billion in profit, up from its earlier forecast of ¥290 billion.
AVIATION
IAG losses more than double
International Airlines Group (IAG), formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, said its first quarter losses more than doubled as higher fuel costs and weakness in Spain undermined strength in premium long-haul travel out of London. The company reported an operating loss of 249 million euros (US$322.7 million) before exceptional items in the traditionally weak first quarter of the year, up from a 102 million euros loss the previous year. Analysts had expected a figure of between 230 million and 250 million euros, according to the company. Revenue for the quarter rose 7.8 percent versus a year earlier to 3.9 billion euros.
BANKING
Credit Agricole disappoints
Credit Agricole SA, one of the biggest banks in Europe by capitalization, reported a 75 percent drop in first quarter net profit yesterday, hit by its exposure to the Greek debt crisis. The bank reported a net profit for the first quarter of 252 million euros. The result was far lower than analyst estimates, who had forecast quarterly earnings of 482 million euros, according to a survey by Bloomberg. The firm said total losses on Greece were 940 million euros, including costs linked to the Greek sovereign debt swap agreed in March and provisions related to its majority stake in Athens bank Emporiki.
INTERNET
Microsoft revamps Bing
Microsoft on Thursday said that it is weaving insights from people’s Facebook friends into Bing results as part of the biggest revamp of the search engine since its launch three years ago. A new version of Bing is being rolled out in the weeks ahead and it is to be widely available in the US early next month. The new version features a “social sidebar” that lists Facebook friends who may know something about a query topic, Microsoft said. Bing improvements also include faster, more relevant results and cleaner pages that include “snapshots” that tightly summarize pertinent information, Microsoft added.
INDIA
Industrial output weaker
Industrial output in March fell 3.5 percent from a year ago, the government said yesterday, worse than expected on weak manufacturing and investment. Manufacturing activity fell 4.4 percent and capital goods production — a sign of crucial investment activity — plunged by 21 percent, burying hopes of a quick recovery for Asia’s third-largest economy. For the year ending in March, industrial output grew 2.8 percent, sharply lower than 8.2 percent during the prior fiscal year. The weak growth complicates matters for India’s central bank, which faces enormous political pressure to stoke growth, despite persistent inflation and soaring deficits.
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
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],”