AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai profit falls
Hyundai Motor Co, ranked fifth in global sales with affiliate Kia Motors, posted a surprise quarterly profit drop as a stronger South Korean won dented its overseas earnings, sending its shares falling the most in three weeks. The won rose almost 8 percent against the US dollar last year, its biggest gain since 2009, cutting the value of Hyundai’s overseas revenue in local currency terms and hurting the carmaker’s price competitiveness abroad. To make matters worse, the Japanese yen eased by 11 percent, handing Hyundai’s competitive edge back to its Japanese rivals. The profit decline came even as Hyundai Motor sold a record 1.23 million vehicles in the fourth quarter.
TECHNOLOGY
LG hit by slow demand
LG Display Co, the world’s second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, reported quarterly profit which trailed analyst forecasts because of slowing demand for Apple Inc’s iPads and a stronger won. Net income was 319.7 billion won (US$299 million) in the three months ended last month, compared with the 363.4 billion won average of 22 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Fourth-quarter sales rose 15 percent to 8.7 trillion won, according to a statement yesterday. The panelmaker reported a 6 billion won loss a year earlier. The LG Electronics Inc affiliate suffered as consumers shunned Apple’s original iPads in favor of a new mini version, which uses a smaller and less lucrative screen. A stronger won also cut the repatriated values sales from overseas as Japanese rivals benefited from a weaker yen. Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative costs, almost doubled to 587 billion won, compared with a loss a year earlier, LG Display said.
FINANCE
Commerzbank to axe jobs
Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest bank, yesterday said it is looking to axe between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs — or about 10 percent of its workforce — by 2016. “As part of our strategic agenda announced in November, Commerzbank is planning to invest more than 2 billion euros [US$2.7 billion] in core operations, as well as cost savings,” a bank spokeswoman told reporters. “Overall, the bank is assuming that 4,000 to 6,000 jobs will be cut group-wide by 2016. The exact number will be determined in negotiations with employee representatives that are likely to start in February,” she said. On Sept. 30 last year, Commerzbank’s total workforce numbered 56,287. The bank’s retail division — its high-street branch network — is set to bear the brunt of the cuts.
EUROZONE
Business activity rises
Private business activity across the eurozone hit a 10-month high this month, according to a leading growth indicator released yesterday. The Purchasing Managers’ Index published by London-based Markit researchers, a survey of thousands of eurozone companies, logged 48.2 points compared with 47.2 points the previous month. This month marked a third rise running for the index, even though it remains below the boom-and-bust 50-point line indicating economic growth or contraction — a 16th shrinkage in 17 months. Manufacturing production fell for the 11th month in a row, with both the manufacturing and services sectors registering their smallest retreat in 10 months. The key eurozone economy of Germany powered back to growth, but No. 2 economy France is still in contraction.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”