INDIA
August inflation up 7.55%
India’s annualized inflation rose to 7.55 percent last month, official data showed yesterday, further reducing the chances of an interest rate cut from the central bank next week. The Central Bank of India will meet on Monday to consider its interest rate policy, as well as a 12 percent rise in the price of diesel ordered by the government that will push inflation higher. The diesel price hike was hailed by some as a sign of intent by the government that it is prepared to tackle difficult economic reforms and the widening hole in the public accounts. The wholesale price index rose to 7.55 percent from 6.87 percent in July, which was a near three-year low.
SOUTH KOREA
S&P raises rating to ‘A+’
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) upgraded South Korea’s sovereign credit rating from “A” to “A+” yesterday, citing stability on the Korean peninsula and the resilience of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. It was the ratings agency’s first upgrade for South Korea in seven years and followed similar moves in the past few weeks by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. Although South Korea’s economy is slowing, the agency said it expected the country’s “economic and financial metrics to continue to support the long-term foreign currency rating at the A+ level.”
BRAZIL
GDP growth cut to 2 percent
Brazil on Thursday lowered its GDP growth forecast for this year from 3 percent to 2 percent, but announced fresh stimulus measures to boost a sluggish economy expected to perform much better next year. Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the economy was showing signs of an uptick and should grow above 4 percent next year, boosted by recent measures to stimulate consumption and industrial production, as well as by a sharp interest rate cut. Mantega said the government was extending payroll tax breaks for 25 industry and service sectors, bringing to 40 the number of sectors that will benefit from the measure. The government earlier this week also ordered a reduction of up to 28 percent in companies’ electricity bills next year.
TELECOMS
Huawei questions law
An official of Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies (華為) said he was concerned that new Australian laws to protect crucial communication networks could exclude companies from bidding for work simply because they are Chinese. John Lord, chairman of the subsidiary, Huawei Technologies (Australia) Pty Ltd, made the comments yesterday to an Australian parliamentary committee that is examining proposed laws to safeguard critical infrastructure from threats such as cyberattacks. The subsidiary was barred on security grounds from working on a national broadband network.
MEDIA
Disney warns on profit
Media and entertainment group Disney revealed on Thursday an unexpected US$50 million write-down at its movie studio and lower-than-expected summer advertising revenue at broadcaster ABC. The write-down was linked to a project that was abandoned, Disney chief financial officer James Rasulo said. Although he did not provide further details, the Wall Street Journal cited an unnamed source as saying that the move concerned a stop-action animated film directed by Henry Selick, whose credits include The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which Disney pulled the plug on last month.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six