MACROECONOMICS
HK’s 0.2% rise disappoints
Hong Kong’s economy grew a slower-than-expected 0.2 percent in the first three months of this year, the slowest pace in three quarters, as China’s expansion cooled. The increase from the previous three months compared with a revised 1.4 percent gain in the fourth quarter, the government said yesterday. The economy grew 2.8 percent from a year earlier, it said, while reaffirming a February projection of economic growth of 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent this year.
AUTOMAKERS
India car sales drop 10.43%
India’s domestic passenger car sales, seen as an indicator of overall economic health, fell 10.43 percent to 150,789 vehicles last month from 168,354 units in the same month a year earlier, industry data showed yesterday, as the country’s once red-hot car market reels from high ownership costs, costly fuel and an economic downturn. The sales drop was the sixth monthly fall in a row and marked the longest stretch of decline since the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers began keeping records six years ago.
MACROECONOMICS
German exports up 0.5%
German exports rose 0.5 percent in March compared with the previous month. The increase announced yesterday by the Federal Statistical Office was not enough to make up a for a 1.2 percent decrease in February, but it was the third increase in four months. In year-on-year terms, exports were down 4.2 percent in March at 94.6 billion euros (US$124 billion). That figure was dragged lower by a 7 percent decline in exports to the eurozone.
FINANCE
First Cyprus bailout soon
The IMF on Thursday said it would likely disburse its first bailout loan to Cyprus after next week’s board meeting on Wednesday. If the board approves the disbursement, it was expected to be made “shortly after the board meeting,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said at a news conference. Following prolonged negotiations, the so-called troika of international lenders — the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank — agreed in late March to lend 10 billion euros to Cyprus.
INTERNET
Amazon looks to 3D screens
Amazon, long rumored to be developing its own smartphone, is working on a screen that allows people to see 3D images without glasses, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The company is working on several gadgets to add to its offerings of Kindle tablets and e-readers, the Journal said in the report, citing people familiar with Amazon’s plans. The devices include two smartphones and an audio-only streaming device, the newspaper said.
STEEL
ArcelorMittal posts loss
ArcelorMittal SA, the global steel-making giant, has reported a loss for the first quarter of the year, even as restructuring efforts are beginning to pay off and the steel market is stabilizing after a sharp decline in the middle of last year. The net loss was US$345 million, compared with a profit of US$92 million in the first quarter of last year. The poor results were due to weaker operations and a high base last year because of a tax windfall. Sales fell 13 percent to US$19.8 billion, and operating profit fell 50 percent to US$404 million.
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],”