SINGAPORE
Bank to maintain policy
The central bank unexpectedly announced it will leave monetary policy unchanged, seeking to curb consumer price gains even after the economy shrank an annualized 1.5 percent in the last quarter. “This policy stance is assessed to be appropriate in containing inflationary pressures and keeping the economy on a path of restructuring towards sustainable growth,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore said yesterday in a statement following its semi-annual exchange-rate review. There is to be no change to the slope and width of the local currency’s trading band that the MAS uses as its main policy tool, the bank said.
CHINA
Yuan at balance rate: bank
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) governor says the Chinese currency has reached its equilibrium rate and its value is mainly determined by the market, rather than intervention. In a speech delivered by one of his deputies, Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川), said yesterday that the central bank has refrained from intervening in the market in the past year. The US has long urged China to lift controls on foreign exchange markets that Washington contends keep the yuan undervalued. PBOC Vice Governor Yi Gang (易綱), who delivered the speech, said China knows that a fixed exchange rate is unsustainable and will continue with reforms.
ASIA
Treasurer urges expansion
The global economy is relying too heavily on Asia to make up for stagnant growth in the US and Europe, said Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan, who urged international policy makers to do more to bolster expansion. “It is time for the other players to get off the benches and start to pull their weight on global economic growth again,” Swan said in remarks to the International Monetary and Financial Committee in Tokyo on Saturday, according to a transcript from his office. “Cutting fiscal positions on a sustainable footing needs to be done hand in hand with supporting growth — this does not need to be one or the other,” he said.
WORLD BANK
Bank to open office in SK
The World Bank plans to open an office in South Korea, according to an e-mailed statement from the Asian nation’s finance ministry. Jim Yong-kim, president of the World Bank, and South Korean Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan are to sign a memorandum of understanding today to establish the office, according to the statement. The agreement also includes creating a new cooperation fund between the two partners, the finance ministry said in the statement. It did not specify when the office will open.
GERMANY
Minister warns on Greece
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday that Greece would not default, but warned that if Athens did exit the eurozone it would be damaging not only for the zone as a whole, but also Greece. “I think, it will not happen that there will be a state bankrupt in Greece,” Schaeuble said at a meeting with business leaders in Singapore. “Greece has to take a lot of very serious reforms and this will harm. Everyone is trusting that the Greek government is doing what is necessary.” Greece is expected to agree a new austerity package with its lenders and for the EU and IMF to bridge their differences on how to cut the country’s debt by the time EU leaders meet on Thursday and Friday.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is