TELECOMS
T-Mobile, MetroPCS in talks
The parent of cellphone company T-Mobile USA on Tuesday said it was in talks to buy smaller MetroPCS Communications Inc, a deal that could shore up two struggling smaller players in the US wireless industry. Deutsche Telekom AG, the German company that owns T-Mobile USA, said “significant issues have not yet been finalized” and no decision has been made on a deal. MetroPCS also confirmed the talks. T-Mobile USA is the country’s fourth-largest cellphone company, with 33.2 million subscribers. Adding the 9.3 million subscribers of Dallas-based MetroPCS, the industry’s No. 5, would still leave T-Mobile trailing No. 3 Sprint Nextel Corp.
TRANSPORTATION
India eyes bullet trains
India is in talks to buy its first bullet trains for the nation’s creaking and accident-prone network, but the new fleet will run at only a fraction of its top speed, a report said yesterday. The government is speaking to Japanese, French and German manufacturers to purchase six new trains, which are capable of running at speeds of up to 325km per hour, the Hindustan Times reported.
APPAREL
Uniqlo sales soar
The operator of Japan’s cheap-chic clothing giant Uniqlo looks set to book annual sales worth almost ¥1 trillion (US$12.8 billion) this business year, a report said yesterday, as it embarks on a rapid overseas expansion. Fast Retailing is expected to report ¥930 billion in sales in the 12 months to August when it gives its results this month, the Nikkei Shimbun said, adding the figure was 10 percent up on last year. Sales will continue to boom over the next 12 months, the paper said, taking the company well past ¥1 trillion.
CONSUMER GOODS
Tesco profits drop 6.8%
British supermarket giant Tesco yesterday said that net profits slid almost 7 percent in the first half of the group’s financial year, hit by tough economic conditions in Asia and Europe. Earnings after taxation slid 6.8 percent to £1.283 billion (US$2.067 billion) in the 26 weeks to Aug. 25, compared with the same period of the company’s previous fiscal year, Tesco said in a results statement. Pre-tax profits meanwhile slumped 12 percent to £1.7 billion in the reporting period.
ELECTRONICS
Microsoft to open ‘pop-ups’
Scores of real-world Microsoft stores will “pop up” in the US and Canada on Oct. 26 to showcase the technology giant’s latest gadgets, including the new Surface tablet computer. Microsoft Web sites on Tuesday promised that temporary, holiday-season shops with a “curated collection of Microsoft’s coolest products” would open their doors on the date. The list of more than 60 locations for the shops included New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Toronto.
AUTOMAKERS
US sales grow 13 percent
US auto sales roared ahead last month, gaining 13 percent from a year earlier to 14.94 million units and posting the best sales pace since March 2008, industry data showed on Tuesday. Asian automakers were the big winners as Toyota and Honda’s sales continue to rebound from last year’s supply shortages, while Chrysler also managed to post a 12 percent gain. General Motors and Ford both saw their market share slip by about two points as their sales stalled last month, but the two largest automakers expressed optimism for future growth.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure