INFRASTRUCTURE
Brazil to invest US$66bn
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced on Wednesday a nearly US$66 billion investment package to beef up the nation’s ailing road and rail systems. The investment includes laying 10,000 kilometers of train tracks and building or widening 7,500 kilometers of federal highways. Rousseff said the government would soon announce other packages aimed at airports, ports and transportation on waterways, as well as other areas where serious deficiencies are seen as hobbling the South American giant’s growth. Rousseff’s announcement comes as Brazil gears up to step into the world spotlight as the host of the 2014 soccer World Cup, as well as the 2016 Olympics.
INVESTMENTS
FDI in China slides 8.7%
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China fell 8.7 percent last month, the government said yesterday, as the economy continued to feel the pinch of slowing global growth and the European debt crisis. Overseas companies invested US$7.58 billion in factories and other projects in China last month, the commerce ministry announced. For the first seven months of the year, FDI fell 3.6 percent year-on-year to US$66.67 billion. Last month’s result was the worst fall since December and continues a downward trend that goes back to November, with the exception of May, when it eked out a marginal gain of 0.05 percent.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple-Samsung truce?
A US judge on Wednesday urged the chiefs of Apple and Samsung to negotiate a truce in their high-profile patent trial in California, saying it was “time for peace.” US District Court Judge Lucy Koh asked the heads of Apple and Samsung to speak on the phone in order to reach a legal settlement before the matter is put in the hands of jurors, probably late next week. “I see risk here for both sides; I think it’s at least worth one more chance,” Koh said, while asking that Apple chief Tim Cook and Samsung boss Kwon Oh-hyun personally connect to end the dispute. “If what you all had wanted is to raise awareness that you have IP [intellectual property] on these devices, message delivered,” she said. “In many ways, it’s message delivered. It’s time for peace.”
NETWORKING
Cisco profit increases 56%
Cisco’s earnings jumped 56 percent in the latest quarter compared with last year, when it was in the throes of a restructuring program. The results beat expectations, and Cisco rewarded investors by raising its dividend by 75 percent. Cisco said it earned US$1.9 billion, or US$0.36 per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, spanning May to last month. That compares with income of US$1.2 billion, or US$0.22 per share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 4.4 percent to US$11.7 billion, beating estimates.
COMPUTERS
Lenovo posts slower growth
Lenovo Group (聯想) said its latest quarterly profit rose 30 percent, but growth slowed amid global economic weakness. Beijing-based Lenovo, the world’s second-largest PC maker, yesterday said it earned US$144 million in the three months ending June 30. The profit growth rate was down from the previous quarter’s 59 percent increase. The latest growth was supported by strong sales in developing countries, with PC shipments up 59.2 percent in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America, and 62.3 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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],”