JAPAN
Factory output slows
Factory output slowed last month, government data showed yesterday, highlighting the weak state of the world’s third-largest economy and underscoring the size of the government’s task in sparking sustained growth. The unemployment rate also crept up last month, while consumer prices again fell, showing the difficulty of reversing years of deflation that has crimped private spending and corporate investment. Industrial production last month contracted 0.1 percent from January, marking the first month-on-month fall since November last year, although a survey of producers pointed to a pick-up in factory output for this month and next month. The economy ministry was also cautiously optimistic, saying yesterday that “industrial production has bottomed out and shows some signs of picking up.” The numbers come ahead of a Bank of Japan policy meeting next week as its new governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, talks up his plans to stoke the economy and reverse years of falling prices.
BANKING
Sixteen paid US$98.6m
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered PLC paid 16 top executives and bankers US$98.6 million last year, including US$12.2 million for the head of its investment bank, Mike Rees. The London-based bank was last year fined US$667 million by US regulators for breaching sanctions related to Iran and three other countries, which it said was reflected in a 7 percent cut in its bonus pool and lower bonuses for top executives. Pay for Rees, who has been the highest paid executive at Standard Chartered for several years, was down 9 percent from the US$13.4 million he received in 2011. The bank’s annual report, released on Thursday, showed his pay included US$1.2 million in salary, US$9 million annual bonus and US$2 million in a long-term share award. Another unnamed banker was paid US$9.4 million. The top 10 paid staff below board level were paid US$57.4 million. The bank’s top six executives received US$41.2 million.
TELECOMS
Firms join Tele2 Russia bid
Russian mobile companies MTS and Vimpelcom Ltd joined the bidders for Tele2 AB’s Russian unit on Thursday, rivaling a proposal by billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s A1 investment group and an agreed deal with VTB Bank OAO. MTS and Vimpelcom are offering to buy the asset for US$4 billion to US$4.25 billion, including US$1.15 billion of net debt, they said late on Thursday, claiming their bid was at a premium of up to 30 percent over the agreed deal with VTB. State-controlled bank VTB agreed on Wednesday to buy Tele2 Russia in a deal that puts an enterprise value — or equity plus debt — on the business of US$3.5 billion. A1 said on Thursday it topped VTB’s offer with an all-cash bid of US$3.6 billion to US$4 billion and said it was also considering an offer for the whole of the parent, Nordic telecoms group.
FRANCE
Deficit level revised
Authorities have revised up the level of its deficit for the past two years, citing the deteriorating economy and a bank bailout. The national statistics agency says the deficit for 2011 was 5.3 percent of GDP, 0.1 percent higher than thought. Last year’s deficit was 4.8 percent. The government had been trying to reduce last year’s deficit to 4.5 percent. Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said yesterday that the nation missed its target because it gave struggling bank Dexia more money at the end of the year and growth was worse than expected.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six