ELECTRONICS
Galaxy S III claim probed
Samsung Electronics Co said it was investigating reports that one of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphones exploded in a user’s car in Ireland. Samsung launched the phone, the strongest rival to Apple’s iPhone, in Europe on May 29 and in the US on Thursday. A Dublin-based consumer posted comments and photographs on a Web site on Wednesday, saying his Galaxy phone exploded while mounted on his car dashboard. There have been other reports of Samsung smartphones overheating or exploding. In March, a South Korean schoolboy reported that a spare battery for his Galaxy S II exploded in his back pocket. Samsung said then that massive external pressure or force caused the explosion.
INVESTMENT
Sony to raises Olympus share
Japan’s Sony will inject about US$623 million into troubled Olympus as the camera and medical equipment maker rebuilds its finances after a massive cover-up scandal, reports said yesterday. The ¥50 billion deal would make Sony the single biggest Olympus shareholder with more than 10 percent of its stock, according to the Nikkei Shimbun, public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media. The Nikkei said the companies plan to reach a final deal by next month, but the two firms declined to comment on the story. The latest reports come after earlier stories named Sony, rival Panasonic and Fujifilm among the likely candidates to invest in the scandal-hit firm.
AVIATION
Malaysia Air profit delayed
Loss-making national carrier Malaysia Airlines has put back its target to return to profitability from next year to 2014 following a failed tie-up with rival budget carrier AirAsia. The company said after its annual general meeting on Thursday that a “renewed” business plan — without the cooperation deal — included cutting costs to return to profit by 2014. The troubled airline said it aimed to cut operational costs by 20 percent within three years through measures including axing loss-making routes and concentrating on lucrative routes in Asia as well as possible job losses. The airline also aims to increase revenue per available seat-kilometer by 10 percent, it said.
FRANCE
Household purchasing falls
The purchasing power of households dipped last year, when consumption also slowed, contributing little to economic growth, the national statistics office INSEE said yesterday. INSEE said purchasing power slid 0.1 percent, reversing the rising trend in 2010, when growth of 0.3 percent was recorded, while spending crept up just 0.3 percent last year at constant prices, a sharp slowdown from the pace of 1.4 percent growth a year ago. As such, household consumption contributed just 0.1 percentage points to overall economic growth of 1.7 percent during the year.
GERMANY
Business confidence falls
Business confidence dropped to the lowest level in more than two years this month as companies grow ever gloomier about the fallout from the European debt crisis, data showed yesterday. The Ifo economic institute’s closely watched business climate index fell to 105.3 points this month from 106.9 points last month. That is slightly steeper than expected: Analysts had been penciling in a fall to 105.6 points. It is the second month in a row that the index has fallen and the barometer is now at its lowest level since March 2010.
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],”