GERMANY
Growth forecasts adjusted
The government is upgrading its growth forecast for this year, but has tangibly cut its prognosis for next year, the business daily Handelsblatt reported yesterday. Berlin, which is scheduled to publish its latest updated growth forecasts next Wednesday, is penciling in growth of 1 percent for both this year and next year, the newspaper said, quoting government sources. That represents an increase for this year from an earlier prognosis of 0.7 percent, but a sharp downward revision for next year from a previous forecast of 1.6 percent.
JAPAN
Economy is weak: minister
The government has downgraded its view of the economy for the third straight month as worries about Europe’s debt crisis and China’s slowdown intensify, adding pressure on the central bank to offer further stimulus to support growth. Economics Minister Seiji Maehara said that while it was too early to judge whether Japan may slip into recession, the economy’s trend was weak, as a lack of global demand hurts exports. The downgrade in assessment followed the Bank of Japan’s warning last week that economic activity was leveling off and that it may not recover until well into next year.
SINGAPORE
Economy shrank in Q3
The economy shrank by 1.5 percent in the third quarter, but avoided a technical recession after growth in the previous three months was adjusted, government figures showed yesterday. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said the export-driven city-state was still on track to achieve annual growth of between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent this year. “Economic growth in the second quarter was better than expected, resulting in an upward revision of quarter-on-quarter annualized growth from the preliminary estimates of [minus]-0.7 percent to 0.2 percent,” it said.
INDIA
Mining boosts production
The government said industrial production rose 2.7 percent in August, more than expected on a rebound in mining activity, though investment still appeared weak. Mining output rose 2 percent, marking a turnaround from a 5.5 percent contraction a year earlier. Manufacturing rose 2.9 percent and electricity output increased 1.9 percent in August from a year earlier. Yesterday’s data also showed that production of capital goods — a sign of investment in physical assets, such as machinery — slid 1.7 percent. The government revised its July figures, saying output contracted 0.2 percent, down from its earlier estimate of 0.1 percent growth.
TECHNOLOGY
Infosys profit disappoints
Profit at India’s Infosys Technologies rose 4.9 percent in US dollar terms for the third quarter, the company said yesterday, missing expectations amid tepid demand from global clients struggling with economic uncertainty. Net income for the third quarter was US$431 million. Revenue grew 2.9 percent from a year ago, to US$1.78 billion.
ELECTRONICS
Sony’s credit rating cut
Sony Corp, reeling from four annual losses, had its credit rating lowered one level by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited weak cash flow and losses at the company’s TV and mobile phone operations. The rating was cut to “Baa2,” the second-lowest investment grade, from “Baa1,” with a negative outlook, Moody’s said in a report yesterday. The decision affects about US$4.2 billion in debt, according to Moody’s.
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
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)
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