INDUSTRY
Steelmaker to take hit
German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG says it is taking a 3.6 billion euros (US$4.66 billion) hit on the value of its Steel Americas unit.
The Essen-based company says the writedown follows a reassessment prompted by efforts to sell the unit’s plants in the US and Brazil. The announcement came as ThyssenKrupp on Monday posted heavy losses for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30. The company says it made a net loss attributable to shareholders of 4.7 billion euros and is canceling its dividend for the 2011 to 2012 period. ThyssenKrupp had recorded a loss of 1.3 billion euros for the previous fiscal year.
TECHNOLOGY
Motorola cools on S Korea
Motorola Mobility on Monday confirmed that it is shutting down most of its operations in South Korea as part of a move to consolidate research after being bought by Google this year. “The changes in Korea reflect our plans to consolidate our global R&D efforts to foster collaboration, and to focus more attention on markets where we are best positioned to compete effectively,” Motorola said in an e-mail response to reporters. California-based Google said in August that it would lay off about 4,000 employees at Motorola, which it purchased in a deal valued at US$12.5 billion, in order to return the company to profitability.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford to update software
Ford will update software on next year’s Escapes and Fusions to stop their engines from overheating, a problem that has caused a small number of fires. Reports of nine fires prompted the automaker to recall more than 89,000 of the SUVS and midsize cars in the US and Canada last month. No injuries were reported and only models with 1.6-liter turbocharged engines were recalled. Ford offered free loaner cars until it figured out what caused the fires. It was the fourth recall in four months for the new Escape, a top seller in the competitive market for small SUVs. Next year’s version has had problems with coolant leaks, cracked fuel lines and carpet padding since it started selling this spring. The Fusion has been recalled twice.
FOOD
McDonald’s sales rebound
McDonald’s Corp said on Monday that a key sales figure rebounded last month, as US customers snapped up the world’s biggest hamburger chain’s breakfast offerings and limited-time Cheddar Bacon Onion sandwiches. The increase follows a decline in October, the first drop in McDonald’s key monthly sales gauge in nearly a decade. The company, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, said that its global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 2.4 percent for the month ended Nov. 30. Systemwide sales, which includes sales at all restaurants, rose 3.2 percent.
BEVERAGES
Diageo ends tequila talks
British drinks group Diageo said yesterday that it had ended talks with JP Y Compania and Lanceros on a possible takeover of the Cuervo brand of tequila. Discussions “relating to the future of the Cuervo brand have ended,” a Diageo statement said. “Both parties will now work to ensure the orderly termination of the current distribution agreement, including transitional arrangements, at the end of June 2013,” it added. Cuervo is distilled in Mexico on land given to Jose Antonio de Cuervo by the 18th-century Spanish King Ferdinand VI.
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