SOLAR CELLS
India probes allegations
India is investigating allegations that suppliers from Taiwan, the US, China and Malaysia sold solar cells in the nation below cost and whether retroactive duties should be imposed. There is sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation into dumping claims filed by local manufacturers Indosolar Ltd, Jupiter Solar Power Ltd and Websol Energy System Ltd, India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a Nov. 23 statement on its Web site. The investigation will cover imports of both crystalline silicon and thin-film photovoltaic cells sold in the country between Jan. 1 and June 30 last year. Suppliers, importers and users of the cells have until Jan. 2 to respond, it said.
AUTOMAKERS
Firms’ China output tumbles
Major Japanese automobile makers say that Chinese production of their vehicles fell sharply last month amid a territorial dispute between the two nations that has led to boycotts of Japanese products in China. Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday that its Chinese output tumbled 61 percent to 30,591 units, its third straight monthly decline. Chinese output from Nissan Motor Co sank 44 percent to 61,360 units, while production from Honda Motor Co declined 54 percent to 26,302 vehicles, the companies said.
RAILWAYS
Siemens to buy UK firm
German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG is to buy a railway business division from the UK’s Invensys PLC for £1.74 billion (US$2.8 billion). Siemens said its supervisory board approved the purchase of the firm specializing in railway signaling software and technology on Wednesday. Siemens said the firm, which has around 3,200 employees and revenues of £775 million, will strengthen its railway automation unit based in Berlin.
PUBLISHING
Paper’s owner seeks partner
Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev is seeking an investment partner to help absorb losses from his ailing British newspaper the Independent, according to yesterday’s the Times. Lebedev, who bought the Independent and the Independent on Sunday for £1 (US$1.6) less than three years ago, admitted in an interview with the Times that finding a partner would be difficult given continuing losses. The Independent, which has a circulation of 80,000, is expected to lose £14 million over the coming year.
TECHNOLOGY
Google to buy marketer
Google Inc has agreed to buy marketing firm Incentive Targeting in a move that gives the tech giant more tools to work with retailers on discounts and other promotions, the two firms said on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to its Web site, Incentive Targeting partners with retail chains to provide marketing for manufacturers of grocery and consumer products, using technology to deliver relevant promotions.
RETAIL
US online spending rises
US online spending rose 17 percent on the Monday after Thanksgiving, as tablets and smartphones allowed shopping any time and anywhere. US consumers spent about US$1.46 billion on “Cyber Monday,” compared with US$1.25 billion a year ago, making it the heaviest online spending day in history, research firm ComScore Inc said on Wednesday. Consumers no longer wait until Black Friday and have started shopping as early as Thursday evening, which will help Internet sales reach US$43.4 billion this holiday season, according to ComScore.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day