ELECTRONICS
EU investigating Apple
The European Commission is probing whether Apple Inc is using anti-competitive iPhone sales tactics and technical restrictions to squeeze out rival smartphone makers from the European market, according to documents seen by the Financial Times. According to a questionnaire sent last week to several European mobile network operators, the commission is focusing on distribution terms that might favor Apple by ensuring no rival can secure a better sales deal, the newspaper said. Apple said its contracts comply with EU laws, according to the report. The inquiry is at a preliminary stage.
GREEN ENERGY
India to auction four projects
India plans to auction four solar-thermal power projects with a combined 120 megawatts of capacity, the Hindu Business Line reported, without citing where it got the information. The state-run Solar Energy Corp of India will call for bids in a year, the newspaper reported. The projects will be eligible for 10.2 billion rupees (US$183 million) of government grants, it said. Solar Energy Corp has set a tariff of 5.83 rupees per kilowatt-hour for the power generated. Developers offering the biggest discount to that rate will win the auction, the paper said.
FINANCE
RBS chief executive sought
The directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have held recent talks on identifying a replacement for its chief executive Stephen Hester, Sky News said on Sunday, citing sources. Sky News said Philip Hampton, chairman of the state-backed lender, called a meeting of the bank’s non-executive directors earlier this month to inform them he was drawing up a list of potential replacements for Hester, including Standard Chartered finance director Richard Meddings. RBS declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Sky News said there was no suggestion that any of Hampton’s candidates had been approached about replacing Hester and cited sources saying it was prudent for RBS’ board to be examining options for the leadership of the company through what is expected to be a lengthy reprivatization process.
FINANCE
HSBC sells yuan bonds
HSBC Holdings PLC sold the first yuan-denominated bonds in Singapore as Standard Chartered PLC markets 1 billion yuan (US$163 million) of debt in the city-state. HSBC priced 500 million yuan of two-year notes through its Singapore branch at 2.25 percent, according to an e-mailed statement. Standard Chartered is marketing three-year notes at between 2.75 percent and 2.875 percent, a person familiar with the matter said. DBS Group Holdings Ltd is also looking to issue yuan bonds in Singapore, as it begins clearing services from yesterday for yuan. Singapore is the third offshore hub for Dim Sum note sales after Hong Kong and Taiwan.
NORTH KOREA
Salary controls relaxed
A government economist said the government introduced new economic management methods last month that relax state control of workers’ salaries. Economist Ri Ki-song said the change introduced on April 1 should not be seen as “reform and opening.” He said Pyongyang was sticking to socialist ownership of the means of production. Enterprises will be allowed to set salaries from money left over after repaying the state for its investment and putting aside funds for continued operation of their businesses.
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],”