GERMANY
Headed for slowdown
The economy, Europe’s biggest, will see a sharp slowdown in growth at the end of the year, the finance ministry wrote in its monthly report published yesterday. The nation has so far held up to Europe’s long-running sovereign debt crisis much better than its eurozone neighbors. While many eurozone countries slipped into recession, Berlin notched up growth of 0.5 percent in the first quarter and 0.3 percent in the second quarter.
Last week, the government fractionally upgraded its growth forecast for the current year to 0.8 percent, but slashed its prognosis for next year to just 1 percent.
INDONESIA
FDI hits record high
Indonesia’s foreign direct investment (FDI) hit a record high in the third quarter, a signal the biggest economy in Southeast Asia remains strong despite global financial woes, a top investment official said yesterday. The third quarter’s FDI rose 22 percent to US$5.9 billion, or 56.6 trillion rupiah, compared with the same period last year, the Investment Coordinating Board said on its Web site. The top contributors come from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, mining and telecoms. Total investment realization since the beginning of this year is 229.9 trillion rupiah, consisting of domestic investment of 65.7 trillion rupiah and foreign direct investment realization of 164.2 trillion rupiah.
AGRIBUSINESS
GrainCorp mulling ADM bid
Australian agribusiness GrainCorp yesterday said it had received a A$2.68 billion (US$2.76 billion) all-cash takeover offer from US food giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Graincorp said its board was considering the indicative, non-binding bid from the leading agricultural commodities trader, which is prepared to pay A$11.75 for each Graincorp share. GrainCorp services about 30,000 grain producers in the eastern states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and South Australia and has one of the largest grain storage, handling and logistics networks in the nation.
ELECTRONICS
Philips earnings double
Royal Philips Electronics NV, the maker of electric shavers, light bulbs and medical imaging equipment, saw earnings more than double in the third quarter, thanks to modest growth at all its business lines as well as the disposal of its loss-making television business. Net profit rose to 169 million euros (US$220 million) from 74 million euros in the same period a year ago, when Philips booked a 54 million euros loss on televisions. Sales rose 3.4 percent to 6.13 billion euros. Despite the upbeat trading performance, Philips CEO Frans van Houten said the company is facing stiff “headwinds” with its biggest market, Europe, in decline, China growing more slowly and with the US market showing “more and more uncertainty related to elections and the so-called ‘fiscal cliff.’”
APPLIANCES
Electrolux Q3 profits up 19%
Home appliance maker Electrolux says its profits increased by 19 percent in third quarter, with sales growing in all markets expect Europe. The Swedish company yesterday said net profit rose to 983 million kronor (US$150 million), from 826 million kronor in the same quarter last year. Total sales climbed 6 percent to 27.2 billion kronor. Sales increased in North America, Latin America and Asia, but slumped in Western Europe. CEO Keith McLoughlin attributed the “soft performance” in Europe to weak consumer confidence affecting demand in southern Europe, Benelux and Nordic countries.
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