A slowdown in China’s economy is perceived as being the biggest risk to Asia’s economic growth, a survey of powerbrokers in the region released yesterday said.
While there were also worries about the weakness in the European and US economies, the survey by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) think tank said there was more concern over the effects of a slowdown in China.
“In terms of risks to growth, regional opinion leaders were more worried about the impact of a slowdown in China than they were for slowdowns in Europe and the US, albeit by a slight margin,” it said.
Results of the survey — which included business executives, senior government officials and academics — were released in the Russian city of Vladivostok ahead of this weekend’s APEC leaders’ summit.
Donald Campbell, co-chair of the PECC, said the survey results emphasized China’s growing importance as global economy driver.
“If you take 10 years ago in terms of economic output, the Asia Pacific region was about 20 percent. Now it’s 35 percent, it’s the fastest-growing ... and it’s driven by China,” Campbell said.
“China is becoming very, very critical in terms of the world economy and growth so you can see the concern over any diminution in growth,” he added.
China’s insatiable appetite for raw materials and other goods has kept the factories of other Asian countries humming despite slower exports to the US and Europe following the 2008 financial crisis.
China is the largest trading partner of the 10-member ASEAN grouping, but a raft of recent data has shown the world’s second biggest economy is slowing.
China’s manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level in more than three years last month, according to a closely watched survey compiled by British banking giant HSBC.
This came after the Asian giant’s economic growth slowed to 7.6 percent in the second quarter, the worst performance in three years and the sixth straight quarter of slower growth.
According to the PECC survey, 56 percent of respondents “are gearing themselves for weaker economic performance from China over the next 12 months,” up from 36 percent in the previous poll last year.
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],”