BANKING
Wells Fargo is largest bank
The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) has lost its standing as the world’s largest bank by market capitalization to US-based Wells Fargo, data showed yesterday, as China’s economy slows. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co is worth US$236 billion, according to the New York Stock Exchange, where it is listed, while Chinese figures show ICBC is now valued at US$223 billion. ICBC’s six-year reign as the world’s biggest bank began in July 2007, and its value peaked at US$374 billion in November that year thanks to China’s rapid economic expansion, and stood as a symbol of the country’s emergence as a global powerhouse. However, it was deposed on July 12 and Wells Fargo has retained top spot since.
INDIA
Walmart cannot meet rules
Walmart has told India that it is unable to meet local sourcing requirements for foreign supermarket groups wanting to open stores in the country, a report said yesterday. Under rules introduced when the government opened up the sector last year, foreign supermarkets are required to buy 30 percent of their products from local small-scale industries. Walmart has “orally conveyed its stand” to the government over the policy, the Press Trust of India reported, adding to complaints from US companies that they are unable to operate in India. Walmart, which said last year it wanted to launch its first supermarket within two years, has said it can procure only about 20 percent of its goods from small Indian industries.
AUSTRALIA
Inflation below expectations
Inflation came in short of expectations for a third consecutive quarter yesterday, boosting the case for an interest rate cut next month as mining investment peaks. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April-June compared with the previous quarter, while they were up 2.4 percent year on year as the economy transitions away from a decade-long commodities spending boom. Underlying inflation, which strips out volatility caused by events such as extreme weather, was slightly higher at 0.6 percent, the ABS said.
VIETNAM
Inflation up a second month
Inflation picked up this month for a second consecutive month, official figures showed yesterday, following recent increases in fuel prices. Consumer prices were up 7.29 percent year-on-year, against a 6.69 percent rise last month, according to the General Statistics Office, with analysts saying recent fuel price hikes were largely responsible. Inflation has rebounded after hitting an eight-month low of 6.36 percent in May. The same month, the central bank cut interest rates for the eighth time in little more than a year to spur bank lending and boost consumption after economic growth fell to a 13-year low of 5.03 percent last year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ARM profits up 30 percent
British chip designer ARM Holdings beat second-quarter expectations with a 30 percent rise in adjusted pretax profit, helped by demand for its latest processors and graphics technology. The Cambridge-based company reported pretax profit of £86.6 million (US$133 million) on revenue up 26 percent to US$171.2 million, both ahead of forecasts. ARM has outpaced the wider semiconductor market for the past five years or so, helped by the dominance of its processor architecture in smartphones and tablet computers.
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