AUTOMAKERS
GM stock up on job cuts
Shares of General Motors (GM) surged on Wednesday after the company announced big job cuts in Europe and reported third-quarter earnings that were far better than analysts expected. The Detroit company said it has cut 2,300 jobs in Europe this year and wants to trim 300 more, part of a larger plan to reduce costs and raise revenue in the struggling region with new vehicles that are more appealing to buyers. Despite the moves, GM’s net profit fell 14 percent as European losses widened and North American earnings dropped due to falling pension income and higher warranty costs.
ENGINEERING
Samsung wins Mideast deal
South Korea’s Samsung Engineering yesterday said it had won a US$2.48 billion order to build plants in Abu Dhabi. Under the deal signed on Wednesday with the state-owned Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, Samsung will build a carbon black unit and a delayed coker unit in Ruwais, west of Abu Dhabi, by January 2016. When completed, the facilities will be able to produce 40,000 tonnes of carbon black per year and process 30,000 barrels of crude oil a day, Samsung Engineering said.
INDIA
PMI reading steady: HSBC
India’s manufacturing activity held steady last month, as a rise in new export orders offset the impact of power shortages, a private business index said yesterday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from HSBC India Manufacturing stood at 52.9 last month, compared with 52.8 in September. A figure of over 50 indicates growth, while below 50 points to contraction.
INTERNET
Netflix rises on Icahn stake
Netflix shares surged on Wednesday on news that corporate raider Carl Icahn had acquired a stake of nearly 10 percent in the online video giant. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed Icahn had acquired about 5.5 million shares, or 9.9 percent, through various investment firms he controls, starting in September. Netflix closed up 13.8 percent at US$79.17.
ENERGY
LNG lifts Shell Q3 earnings
Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s third-quarter profit expanded 2.3 percent after Europe’s biggest oil company generated increased earnings from liquefied natural gas (LNG). Net income rose to US$7.14 billion from US$6.98 billion a year earlier, Shell said in a statement yesterday. Excluding one-time items and inventory changes, profit was US$6.6 billion, beating the US$6.3 billion average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company said LNG sales gained 4 percent to 4.97 million tonnes from a year ago, mainly reflecting the contribution from the Pluto project in Australia.
TECHNOLOGY
Court taps Micron for Elpida
The Tokyo District Court picked Micron Technology Inc as a buyer for Elpida Memory Inc to revive the bankrupt Japanese chipmaker, dismissing an alternative plan put forward by bondholders. The court said creditors must vote on a reorganization plan that includes the Micron offer by Feb. 26, Elpida said in a statement yesterday. US-based Micron offered ¥200 billion (US$2.5 billion) in July to take over Elpida. Bondholders challenged the deal, calling it “severely detrimental.” The transaction, which is subject to approval by creditors, courts and regulators, is expected to close in the first half of next year, Elpida said.
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