CYPRUS
No time to lose: Juncker
Cyprus needs to speed up negotiations with its potential creditors on a deal that would enable the cash-strapped country to receive international financial aid, the president of the 17-nation eurozone said on Friday. Jean-Claude Juncker said there is “no time to lose” on reaching a bailout deal with the European Central Bank, IMF and the European Commission — collectively known as the troika. Cyprus in June joined fellow eurozone members Greece, Ireland and Portugal in seeking an international bailout to recapitalize its banks which have taken huge losses due to their heavy exposure to debt-crushed Greece.
retail
Walmart fails to reach deal
Walmart Stores Inc said on Friday it had failed to reach a deal with a developer to have a store in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood, dealing the company a setback in its attempt to open its first location in the largest US City. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, had been in talks with Related Companies to open a store that would have anchored the Gateway Two Plaza development in Brooklyn. A Shop Rite supermarket will instead occupy that space. In a statement, Walmart said it would continue to look for a site, adding that most New Yorkers want the discount giant to open a store in their city. Walmart has faced opposition from some groups in New York that say it does not pay its workers adequately and would drive out small local businesses.
insurance
Insurer in healthcare index
UnitedHealth Group Inc will replace Kraft Foods Inc in the Dow Jones industrial average, putting the US’ largest health insurer in the storied 30-stock index at a time when an aging population is making healthcare one of the strongest-growing segments of the economy. UnitedHealth joins pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co among the Dow’s healthcare stocks. Insurance is already represented by Travelers Companies Inc, though UnitedHealth will be the only insurance stock with a healthcare focus. The group has been volatile in recent years because of US President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, and because of aging US population demographics, which could increase demand for long-term healthcare options.
United kingdom
VAT plans to affect poultry
UK plans to include fresh roasted chickens sold in supermarkets among hot takeaway foods subject to value-added tax (VAT) would cost farmers and shoppers millions of pounds, the British Poultry Council said. New rules on sales tax will increase the cost to shoppers of whole rotisserie chickens by 20 percent as of Oct. 1, the council wrote in an e-mailed statement. That could prompt consumers to cut purchases by 9 percent, or 73,000 birds a week, the council said, citing an in-store trial by William Morrison Supermarkets PLC. British shoppers buy about 810,000 rotisserie chickens a week in supermarkets, with a value of about £185 million (US$300 million) a year, according to Peter Bradnock, chief executive officer of the council. The tax would bring in £34 million for the government, while sales of rotisserie chicken in the UK might fall by as much as 4 million birds, or £17 million, the council wrote.
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],”