UNITED STATES
Jobs loss linked to deficit
The huge US trade deficit with China displaced or eliminated more than 2.7 million US jobs between 2001 and last year, the labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute said on Thursday in its latest look at the issue. The institute estimated that nearly 77 percent, or more than 2.1 million, of the lost jobs were in manufacturing. The think tank receives about 30 percent of its funding from union groups, which have pressed both the US administration and Congress for tougher steps to rein in the growing trade deficit with China, which hit a record US$295 billion last year.
FINANCE
Tokyo reviews Seoul ties
The Japanese government has not reached a decision on whether it will buy South Korean government debt, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said yesterday, as a diplomatic row escalates between the two countries over a territorial dispute. Azumi reiterated that the government might not extend a currency swap arrangement with South Korea after it expires in October. Purchases of South Korean government debt and the currency swap were part of efforts to strengthen economic ties, but further cooperation has been thrown into doubt due to diplomatic tensions that have been growing in Northeast Asia.
SOUTH AFRICA
IMF cuts growth forecasts
The IMF on Thursday trimmed its growth forecast for South Africa for this year to 2.6 percent and warned that chronic joblessness was a risk. “If not addressed, the stubbornly high unemployment rate could become politically and socially unsustainable,” an IMF report said. The forecast for next year was cut from 3.6 percent to 3.4 percent. Some key domestic risks identified were the high unemployment rate, which officially hovers around 25 percent, and the ballooning cost of public sector wages.
BANKING
ABN Amro profit falls 9.9%
ABN Amro, the bank owned by the Dutch state, said that second-quarter earnings fell 9.9 percent because of an increase in bad loans. Net profit was 291 million euros (US$365 million), compared with 323 million euros a year ago. ABN blamed lower interest margins, falling commissions and a near-doubling in bad loans to 367 million euros from 187 million euros. CEO Gerrit Zalm blamed a Dutch recession, pointing to rising bankruptcies and unemployment climbing to 6.5 percent.
RETAIL
Woolworths profit dips 15%
Australian supermarket giant Woolworths yesterday said its full-year net profit slumped 15 percent to A$1.82 billion (US$1.89 billion) due to its exit from the unprofitable Dick Smith electronics chain. Woolworths, Australia’s largest food retailer which is in a battle for dominance for the supermarket sector with rival Coles, said sales revenue in the year to June 30 was A$55.1 billion, up from A$52.6 billion. CEO Grant O’Brien said the underlying performance was pleasing, but warned the company expected the retail sector to continue experiencing challenging trading conditions.
INTERNET
Facebook launches new app
Facebook unveiled a new mobile app on Thursday for its users on Apple’s iPhone and iPad, saying it would speed up the performance of people accessing the world’s biggest social network. Facebook made other improvements to help make its app more user-friendly, product manager Mick Johnson said.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)