TECHNOLOGY
Amazon making smartphone
Amazon.com Inc is developing a smartphone that would vie with Apple Inc’s iPhone and handheld devices that run Google Inc’s Android operating system, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康控股), a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團), is working with Amazon on the device, one of the people said. Amazon is seeking to complement the smartphone strategy by acquiring patents that cover wireless technology and would help it defend against allegations of infringement, other people with knowledge of the matter said. Amazon beefed up its patent prowess recently by hiring Matt Gordon, formerly senior director of acquisitions at Intellectual Ventures Management LLC, a company that owns more than 35,000 intellectual property assets.
SOUTH KOREA
GDP to slow in second half
Growth is likely to slow down in the second half of this year, as the export-dominated economy grapples with a global slowdown, Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said yesterday. “The country’s full-scale economic recovery is being delayed,” Bahk said. “Growth in the second half will be lower than expected.” The ministry last week cut its full-year growth forecast for Asia’s fourth-largest economy to 3.3 percent from its December projection of 3.7 percent. Bahk cited the sluggish housing market and rising household debt as major challenges in the short term. Household debt stood at 857.8 trillion won (US$756 billion) at the end of March. The Financial Supervisory Service called this week for action to curb the figure, saying it poses a great risk to growth.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Pfizer named in antitrust suit
Five big US retailers on Thursday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Pfizer Inc and India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories, accusing them of conspiring to delay sales of generic versions of Lipitor, the best-selling drug in history. Walgreens Co, Kroger Co, Safeway Inc, SuperValu Inc and HEB Grocery Co accused the defendants of running an “overarching anticompetitive scheme” to keep generic versions of the cholesterol drug off the market until Nov. 30 last year, 20 months after the original patent expired. They said the defendants did this by obtaining a fraudulent patent, engaging in sham litigation, entering a price-fixing agreement to delay cheaper generics and entering arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers to force retailers to buy more Lipitor, whose chemical name is atorvastatin calcium.
INSURANCE
Aviva sells Delta Lloyd stock
British insurer Aviva said yesterday it had sold another 21 percent of shares in Dutch unit Delta Lloyd for £318 million (US$493 million), one day after unveiling a large restructuring. Aviva said it had placed 37 million Delta Lloyd shares at 10.75 euros per share, in a deal that slashed its holding from 41 percent to about 20 percent. Delta Lloyd Group is a financial services provider that offers life insurance, general insurance, asset management and banking products and services. Yesterday’s announcement came one day after Aviva revealed plans to exit 16 non-core business areas and announced senior management changes following a major strategic review of the embattled group. Aviva is seeking to strengthen its capital base and share price after the shock resignation of its chief executive earlier this year.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last