SOLAR PANELS
PRC import price agreed
The European Commission said yesterday it had agreed a deal with Beijing to resolve a dispute over alleged Chinese dumping of solar panels in Europe, agreeing a minimum price for China’s imports. The deal to resolve the biggest trade dispute between China and the European Union will avoid punitive tariffs from August on Chinese solar imports into Europe that were worth 21 billion euros (US$27 billion) last year.
US CENTRAL BANK
End to bond-buying in sight
The US central bank should stop its bond-buying quickly and an end to the program was “in sight,” a senior Federal Reserve official said in an interview with a German magazine on Saturday. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, one of the Fed’s most fiscally conservative officials, said he expected ending the process to be successful, according to WirtschaftsWoche.
Lacker pointed to relatively low inflation and said a faster-than-expected fall in the US jobless rate was sufficient to start winding down the purchasing program.
BANK OF ENGLAND
Deputy governor named
The Bank of England says the Treasury veteran and UK diplomat to Europe Jon Cunliffe will succeed Paul Tucker as deputy to new governor Mark Carney. Tucker announced in June he would be stepping down after more than 30 years with the central bank. The Bank of England said that Cunliffe — who held senior roles at the Treasury from 2000 to 2007 — will assume his role in November. Cunlifffe was appointed the UK’s permanent representative to the European Union last January.
BANKS
No more commodities
JPMorgan Chase & Co said it plans to get out of the business of owning and trading physical commodities ranging from metals to oil, three days after a US Senate panel questioned whether banks are abusing their ownership of raw materials to manipulate markets. The announcement also comes as JPMorgan negotiates a settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that may include a US$400 million fine and other penalties, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. JPMorgan could sell or spin off holdings that include warehouses, stakes in power plants and traders in materials such as gas, power and coal. The company estimated the value of its physical commodities at US$14.3 billion as of March 31, a company filing shows.
GAMES
Vivendi sells major stake
Vivendi SA is selling most of its majority stake in Activision Blizzard Inc for US$8.2 billion, giving the video game company back its independence as the French conglomerate tries to strengthen its balance sheet. Vivendi said that 429 million of its shares will be sold to Activision itself for US$5.83 billion, or US$13.60 per share. Another 172 million shares will be sold for US$2.34 billion to a consortium of investors including Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-chairman Brian Kelly, who are contributing US$100 million each. Activision makes games such as “World of Warcraft” and the wildly popular “Call of Duty” series.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six