UNITED STATES
Consumer sentiment drops
Consumer sentiment cooled again this month to its lowest level in seven months as people took a dim view of their finances and job prospects, a survey released on Friday showed. Separately, producer prices rose only slightly last month as energy costs dropped, suggesting inflation pressures remain muted and leaving the door open for more easing by the Federal Reserve. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment fell to 72.0 from 73.2 last month, frustrating economists’ expectations for a slight gain to 73.4. It was the lowest level since December last year.
EUROPE
Euro flawed, Buffett says
Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett said he did not think the eurozone could survive in its current form unless all 17 countries involved can agree on monetary policies. Buffett said the system Europe set up had a fundamental flaw in it. Buffett appeared on Bloomberg TV on Friday. Buffett said the 17 countries that share the euro currency have been working to patch their system, but it was difficult to agree when 17 members are involved.
ITALY
Borrowing costs cut
Italian banks came to the rescue on Friday after the country suffered a ratings downgrade, but while Rome cut its three-year borrowing costs at auction, a rise in 10-year bond yields highlighted concern it may fall victim to Europe’s debt crisis. Moody’s cut Italy’s sovereign debt rating to “Baa2” on Friday, citing doubts over Italy’s long-term resolve to push through much-needed reforms and saying persistent worries about Spain and Greece were increasing its liquidity risks. Solid domestic demand helped the Italian Treasury sell the top planned amount of 5.25 billion euros (US$6.43 billion) in bonds, paying less than a month ago on three-year paper. A new 2015 bond was sold at an average 4.65 percent rate, compared with the 5.3 percent Italy paid last month.
ELECTRONICS
RIM liable over patent
Research In Motion Ltd (RIM), the BlackBerry device maker seeking a comeback after falling behind Apple Inc and Google Inc, was found liable by a federal jury for US$147.2 million in damages for infringing patents held by Mformation Technologies Inc. Jurors determined that closely held Mformation, based in Edison, New Jersey, proved at trial in federal court in San Francisco that RIM software enabling companies to manage workers’ BlackBerry devices remotely from a server infringed Mformation’s inventions. The software is called BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Mformation, a maker of mobile-device management software, sued RIM in 2008, alleging infringement of two patents. The company claimed it disclosed details of the technology to RIM during licensing discussions. After refusing to take a license, the BlackBerry maker modified its software to include the patented systems, Mformation said in its complaint. Amar Thakur, Mformation’s attorney, said the jury’s damage award is for royalties on past sales of devices to non-government US customers. Damages for future sales outside the US and government customers could increase the amount by two to three times, he said in an interview after the verdict.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is