UNITED STATES
Economy improving: Fed
The US economy is expanding moderately, but businesses remain worried over US political uncertainty and the European crisis, the Federal Reserve said in its regional economies survey on Wednesday. Most of the Fed’s 12 regions reported improving conditions over the April to May period, according to the regular “Beige Book” regional review. “Overall economic activity expanded at a moderate pace,” better than the Fed’s previous formulation in early April of “a modest to moderate pace,” it said.
SOUTH KOREA
First-quarter GDP up 0.9%
South Korea’s economy grew at the fastest pace in a year in the first quarter, remaining resilient despite Europe’s debt crisis, final data confirmed yesterday. GDP rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in the first quarter compared with October-December last year, the central bank said. It was the highest figure since the first quarter of last year, when the economy grew 1.3 percent sequentially. On an annual basis, the economy rose 2.8 percent in the first quarter, the weakest growth in two-and-a-half years. Both figures were the same as the central bank’s preliminary estimates in April. Many analysts expect growth to slow again in the second quarter, although a contraction is seen as unlikely.
PROPERTY
Macau may take back land
A Hong Kong property company whose billionaire chairman is facing corruption charges said Macau’s government might take back a land grant related to the case. Such a move would threaten HK$3.8 billion (US$500 million) worth of apartment sales on the site. Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd (華人置業集團) said on late Wednesday it had the right to appeal if the land concession was canceled. The company has taken HK$384 million in deposits for 304 units in the luxury apartment complex. Last month, Macau prosecutors charged chairman Joseph Lau (劉鑾雄) with bribery and money laundering. He allegedly offered a bribe to the Asian gambling hub’s former public works chief to clear the land deal.
TIRES
Goodyear takes over NGT
Goodyear Tire & Rubber on Wednesday said it had acquired 100 percent of its Nippon Giant Tire (NGT) subsidiary, which produces giant tires for earthmovers used in mining and roadworks, for an undisclosed amount. Goodyear, the majority shareholder of NGT since 1985, said it had bought the shares owned by its joint-venture partners, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co and Mitsubishi Corp. The US company will also invest US$250 million to upgrade and expand Tatsuno-based NGT’s tire manufacturing facility. The expansion will support growth in the company’s Asia-Pacific off-the-road (OTR) tire business, primarily in Australia, which is one of the world’s largest markets for OTR tires, Goodyear said.
SOFTWARE
Oracle touts cloud services
Oracle Corp will distribute more than 100 business software applications over the Internet as the company tries to adapt to a computing shift threatening to turn it into a relic. The expansion announced on Wednesday by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison comes after seven years of development that cost the business software maker billions of dollars. Besides investing in improving its own technology, Oracle has spent more than US$3.5 billion buying smaller rivals that specialized in “cloud computing.” Ellison boasted that Oracle is now prepared to offer “the most comprehensive cloud on planet Earth.”
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