SOUTH KOREA
Account surplus falls
The nation’s current account surplus fell for the second straight month last month, but exports increased and the central bank yesterday forecast a record surplus by the end of the year. The current account surplus stood at US$6.77 billion last month, the Bank of Korea said, down from US$7.24 billion in June and a record US$8.64 billion in May. Exports rose 3.8 percent on-year to US$48.39 billion and imports gained 3.5 percent to US$42.71 billion last month, resulting in a US$5.68 billion trade surplus. For the first seven months of the year, the current-account surplus totalled US$36.55 billion and the central bank said it expected a total surplus this year of US$53 billion, exceeding last year’s record of US$43.14 billion.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota seeks to expand
Toyota said on Wednesday that it plans a new push to boost its market share in Latin America, saying it underperforms in Brazil and Mexico, the region’s largest economies. Mark Hogan, former president of Magna International and former General Motors executive, who became the first American to serve on Toyota’s board of directors on June 1, told reporters that Toyota needs to expand its footprint in the two countries. He said the company in addition needs more capacity in Mexico, where its market share is also about 5 percent.
BRAZIL
Interest rate raised
The Central Bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate by half a percentage point to nine percent in a bid to curb surging inflation, it said. The bank’s monetary policy committee said the move “will help set inflation on the decline and ensure that trend continues into next year.” It was the fourth consecutive increase this year as the real has depreciated against the dollar in a volatile market roiled by expectations of tighter US monetary policy. Last month, 12-month inflation reached 6.27 percent, below but very close to the upper limit of the government target of 6.5 percent.
RETAIL
Carrefour posts large profit
French big box store Carrefour posted a significant profit in the first half of the year, hailing it as a sign that its turnaround plan is beginning to bear fruit. Europe’s largest retailer by sales said yesterday that its net income rose to 902 million euros (US$1.2 billion). However, much of that boost — about 380 million euros — was from operations the company is discontinuing, raising questions about whether the company can stay profitable. Still, the results were an improvement on last year, when Carrefour reported a loss of 31 million euros in the first half. The company said that excluding asset sales and other elements not counted in this year’s reporting, its net profit last year would have been 3 million euros.
GAMING
Wii U system price to be cut
Nintendo Co announced on Wednesday that it is cutting the price of its Wii U video-game system as it braces for the fall release of competing consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo will reduce the price of the Wii U deluxe set from US$349.99 to US$299.99, effective on Sept. 20. The company will also release a Wii U bundle featuring The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, a remake of the 2003 game, that will also be available from Sept. 20 for US$299.99.
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
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by