PATENTS
Motorola suit tossed
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Monday tossed out a Motorola Mobility patent claim that threatened to block the import of some Apple iPhone models into the US. The commission dismissed a complaint by Google-owned Motorola Mobility accusing Apple of infringing on patented technology that makes touch screens ignore fingers when people are holding smartphones to their ears for calls. The ITC reasoned that the technology at issue in the patents was not original enough to support the accusation.
AVIATION
Virgin takeover backed
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission yesterday approved the takeover by Virgin Australia of budget rival Tiger Airways Australia. The commission said it would not oppose the transaction because it is unlikely to substantially reduce competition in the nation’s aviation market. The proposed acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Tiger for A$35 million (US$36 million) still requires approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
RETAIL
CP All buys Siam Makro
CP All Pcl, the owner of 7-Eleven stores in Thailand, agreed to pay about US$6.6 billion to acquire Siam Makro Pcl, putting control of the discount retailer back in the hands of billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont. CP All, controlled by Dhanin’s Charoen Pokphand Group, will pay 787 baht a share for the 64 percent of Siam Makro owned by SHV Holdings NV, the company said yesterday. It will also make a tender offer to other shareholders at the same price, a 15 percent premium to Siam Makro’s share price of 682 baht before it was suspended from trading on Monday.
ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix gaining customers
Netflix’s decision to feature original programming on its Internet video service appears to be pulling in more customers. Numbers released on Monday showed Netflix Inc added 2 million US subscribers to its video streaming service during the first three months of the year. Through last month, Netflix had 29.2 million US streaming subscribers. The subscriber growth helped Netflix eke out a profit of US$3 million, or US$0.05 per share, in the quarter. That contrasted with a loss of nearly US$5 million, or US$0.08 per share last year.
UNITED STATES
S&P case dismissal sought
The parent company of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) wants a federal judge to dismiss a US government lawsuit that claims the ratings agency gave falsely high ratings to mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis. Attorneys for McGraw-Hill Cos Inc delivered their arguments in documents filed on Monday in US District Court in California. The motion asserts that the US government’s complaint against S&P is a stretch, noting that other agencies issued ratings identical to S&P.
GREECE
Eurobank needs help
Eurobank says it will not be able to privately raise money to complete its 5.84 billion euro (US$7.61 billion) recapitalization, and would rely on a national rescue fund instead. The bank’s governing board on Monday said it would make the recommendation at investor meeting to draw all the money from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund — a move that could mean handing over management of the bank to the state.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San