JAPAN
Further stimulus likely
The government will announce about ¥12 trillion (US$136 billion) in fiscal stimulus measures to boost the nation’s shrinking economy, local media reported yesterday. The Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News both reported the figure for extra spending in the fiscal year through March, with the Yomiuri saying that ¥5 trillion to ¥6 trillion will be directed to public works projects, without citing any sources. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told business leaders yesterday that he hopes to compile the measures this week. More than ¥4 trillion would be allocated for public works and the extra budget will also allocate around ¥2.6 trillion to fund pension payments, Kyodo News reported.
SOUTH KOREA
LG to boost investment
LG Group says it is increasing annual investments to record highs despite the uncertainty in the global economy and slow consumer demand. The conglomerate said yesterday it is boosting spending on facilities, and research and development by 19 percent this year, over a year earlier, to 20 trillion won (US$18.8 billion). LG says it has allocated 67 percent of the investment to its electronics units, LG Electronics and LG Display. The electronics firms will use 13.4 trillion won to build production lines for small-size LCD panels and advanced organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. Part of the money will be invested in developing future displays, including flexible displays and transparent screens.
AUTOMAKERS
Japan’s vehicle sales soar
The number of vehicles sold in Japan last year jumped 26.1 percent from 2011, as annual sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding mini vehicles — four-wheeled vehicles with engines under 660cc — came in at 3,390,274 units, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said yesterday. Sales of passenger cars totaled 3,014,651 units last year, up 26.3 percent year-on-year, while sales of trucks climbed 24.4 percent to 363,685 units. Bus sales gained 12.1 percent to 11,938 units, industry data showed. In 2011, Japan’s domestic vehicle sales dropped 16.7 percent after a tsunami and earthquake damaged factories and crippled automakers’ supply chains.
ATOMIC ENERGY
Toshiba ups US firm stake
Toshiba Corp has boosted its stake in US nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse Electric to 87 percent, the company said yesterday, as it eyes atomic opportunities outside Japan. The Japanese technology conglomerate said it paid about ¥125 billion for a 20 percent holding in Westinghouse held by US-based engineering firm The Shaw Group. The deal announced yesterday finalized an option that Shaw exercised in October last year to sell its entire stake in Westinghouse to Toshiba.
AIRLINES
Air Berlin boss to step down
Germany’s second-biggest airline, Air Berlin PLC, says its chief is stepping down after leading a drive to turn around the company over the past 16 months. The airline said yesterday that chief executive officer Hartmut Mehdorn, who took over in 2011 after company founder Joachim Hunold quit, is retiring from the position “by mutual agreement.” Mehdorn will become a non-executive director. Air Berlin has struggled in Europe’s highly competitive travel market. Under Mehdorn, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has become its biggest shareholder with a stake of nearly 30 percent. It has cut some routes and sold a majority stake in its frequent flyer program to Etihad.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last