SOUTH KOREA
Jail sentence overturned
The supreme court yesterday overturned a three-year jail sentence against Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn for breach of trust and other charges, sending the case back to a lower court. The tycoon had been convicted of using Hanwha affiliates to “unfairly support” companies he owned under assumed names, causing losses to the nation’s 10th biggest conglomerate. In April, a Seoul appellate court reduced his sentence to three years from the four years imposed in August last year. Kim was taken to prison after the first ruling last year, but the sentence was suspended temporarily earlier this year because he was in poor health.
FRANCE
Fewer job seekers
The number of registered job seekers fell last month for the first time in more than two years, dropping by 50,000 to 3.23 million, the Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Affairs said on Wednesday. However, Labor Minister Michel Sapin said a lasting turnaround in unemployment promised by the Socialist government and President Francois Hollande had not yet been achieved. Sapin welcomed what he termed a “significant” drop in a country where unemployment affects nearly 10.9 percent of the active population.
REAL ESTATE
US new home sales up
US sales of new homes bounced back last month after July’s slump, the Department of Commerce reported on Wednesday. New home sales rose to an annual pace of 421,000 units, compared to 390,000 in July and 454,000 in June. However, the pace remained slower than the first quarter’s 449,000 pace, which analysts say could be the result of a jump in home mortgage interest rates.
ECONOMY
Brazil’s forecast raised
The Brazilian industrial federation on Wednesday upped its growth forecast for this year from 1 percent to 1.4 percent and its GDP growth projection from 2 to 2.4 percent. Despite the better data, the National Confederation of Industry urged caution. “The improved economic outlook is no guarantee of a strong growth rate,” it said. “This year, investment will play a larger role than household spending in terms of GDP growth.” The federation forecasted an 8 percent rise in investment, but only 1.9 percent in consumer spending.
MYANMAR
World Bank extends loan
The World Bank is lending the country US$140 million to upgrade an aging power plant in southeastern Mon state in a small step toward overcoming the nation’s chronic power shortages. The bank said on Wednesday the interest-free loan will fund a refurbishment of the Thaton gas-fired power plant, increasing its generating capacity by 250 percent without an increase in its gas consumption. It is the first World Bank loan to the government since the bank forgave US$440 million of unpaid debt in January.
AUTOMAKERS
Berlin probes part makers
Germany’s competition watchdog has carried out searches at six car parts makers on suspicion of price-fixing, officials and two of the groups involved said on Wednesday. The Federal Cartel Office suspects the groups — which it did not name — of being involved in illegal price-fixing for car trunk fittings and carpeting since 2002. Canadian group Magna said it was one of those targeted in the raids, while Swiss group Autoneum said its German unit was also under investigation.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to