MACROECONOMICS
Vietnamese inflation slows
Vietnamese inflation slowed to its weakest pace in eight months this month, official data showed yesterday, in the latest sign that the economy is cooling. Consumer prices rose 6.36 percent year-on-year this month, the Government Statistics Office said, slightly down from a 6.61 percent increase last month. Hanoi cut interest rates this month for the eighth time in little more than a year to boost its economy, which fell to a 13-year low of 5.03 percent last year.
MANUFACTURING
French business looking up
French manufacturers turned sharply brighter about their business prospects this month because activity was unexpectedly buoyant and orders were picking up, the latest figures from the national statistics institute INSEE showed yesterday. The index of manufacturing confidence rose by 4 points to 92 points this month from 88 points last month, INSEE figures showed. This took the level of confidence back up to the level of February, but fell short of 100 points, which has been the average since 1976.
TECHNOLOGY
ITC clears Xbox 360
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) sided with Microsoft on Thursday in a patent dispute with Google-owned Motorola Mobility that could have barred the imports of Xbox 360 videogame consoles. “The investigation is terminated,” the ITC said in a notice announcing it was rejecting a Motorola Mobility patent complaint dating back to late 2010. Motorola Mobility had argued that Xbox 360 consoles infringed on patent technology for wirelessly transmitting data.
AVIATION
Boeing 787 to fly in China
Chinese regulators have approved the Boeing 787 to fly in the country, a Boeing spokesman said on Thursday, a move that opens up a large potential market to the US aerospace giant. Chinese airlines have yet to take delivery of the 787 Dreamliner, which last month was cleared to return to service after all 50 in use worldwide were grounded in the middle of January following two overheated battery incidents. Air China (中國國際航空) has ordered 15 of the planes, while China Southern Airlines (中國南方航空) and Hainan Airlines (海南航空) have each ordered 10 planes.
AUSTRALIA
Economy sound: Gillard
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday moved to allay fears about the economy, saying it had strong fundamentals, after US carmaker Ford said on Thursday it would stop making vehicles at its unprofitable Australian plants in 2016 and cut 1,200 jobs. Gillard told reporters the Australian economy was in transition as the investment boom in the mining and resources sector wound down, and there would be a loss of jobs as a result.
INTERNET
Yahoo buys PlayerScale
Yahoo pressed on with its shopping spree on Thursday with the acquisition of a startup that powers games played on smartphones, tablets, consoles or PCs. Yahoo confirmed in a statement on Thursday it has bought PlayerScale. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The PlayerScale platform works behind the scenes to handle payments, multi-person play, online chat and other features woven into games played on a broad range of devices.
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