SOFTWARE
Google to buy Quickoffice
Google is buying Quickoffice, the maker of a widely used mobile app for working on documents created in Microsoft’s programs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. The deal announced on Tuesday gives Google Inc more tools to undercut Microsoft Corp, as more people get work done on smartphones and tablet computers. Quickoffice makes those devices compatible with Microsoft Office, even if the software suite is not installed on them. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
ELECTRONICS
Sony bosses shun bonuses
Seven Sony executives, including chairman Howard Stringer and president Kazuo Hirai, are giving up their performance-based bonus pay. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment company said yesterday that they were forgoing bonuses for the fiscal year through March because of the massive challenges to turn around the business. Sony did not disclose how much money was being returned. The company paid ￥224 million (US$2.8 million) in such bonuses for the fiscal year through March 2011 to eight executives.
FAST FOOD
Burger King targets Russia
Burger King is expanding its empire overseas, this time in Russia. The world’s second-largest hamburger chain said on Tuesday it had reached a deal with its franchise operator in the country to open several hundred new locations in the next few years. There are currently 57 Burger King outlets in Russia. The deal continues the Miami-based chain’s focus on expanding in emerging markets at a time when the fast-food industry is becoming increasingly saturated in the US. In the past year, 80 percent of Burger King’s new openings have been in the region encompassing Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
BANKING
German, Austrian ratings cut
Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit ratings of six German banking groups, including Commerzbank AG, and Austria’s three largest banks, such as Erste Group Bank AG, yesterday, saying they face risks if the eurozone crisis deepens. Moody’s said German lenders face risks to the quality of their assets if the eurozone crisis deepens or the global economy slows more. For the Austrian banks, Moody’s said vulnerabilities from operating conditions in Central and Eastern Europe were the reasons for the ratings cut.
ENVIRONMENT
Firms eye ‘greener’ plastic
Five leading US global companies, including Coca-Cola and Ford, on Tuesday unveiled a joint effort to develop 100 percent plant-based plastics in their products, cutting the use of fossil fuels. Coca-Cola, Ford, Heinz, Nike and Procter & Gamble said they were launching a working group focused on speeding up the development and use of 100 percent plant-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. PET is a durable, lightweight plastic. All five companies use PET based on fossil fuels such as oil in bottles, apparel, footwear, and automotive fabric and carpet.
MALAYSIA
Weaker demand hits exports
The trade ministry reported flat export growth for April yesterday as weaker demand in the trade-dependent economy’s key European and US markets offset continued strong shipments to China. Malaysia exported 57.7 billion ringgit (US$18.2 billion) of goods in April, just shy of the 57.8 billion ringgit reported in April of last year.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
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