UNITED KINGDOM
Confidence at six-year high
British consumer confidence rose this month to its highest in almost six years, signaling further strength for one of the economy’s main drivers, a survey showed yesterday. Market research company GfK said its monthly consumer confidence index rose to minus-10 from minus-13 last month. It was the highest reading since November 2007 and above the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for minus-11. The latest reading is well above the 12-month average of minus-22, suggesting consumers — who account for around two-thirds of British spending — will make another big contribution to economic output in the third quarter.
ECONOMY
S Korea trade gap narrows
South Korea’s current account surplus narrowed last month from the previous month on weaker trade gains, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. The current account, the broadest measure of South Korea’s trade with the rest of the world, showed a surplus of US$5.74 billion last month, down from US$6.77 billion in July. It was the 19th straight month that the account has been in the black and brought the combined surplus for the first eight months of this year to US$42.28 billion.
POSTAL SERVICE
UK’s Royal Mail is floated
The British government said yesterday it would offer shares in state-owned Royal Mail at between £2.60 pence and £3.30 pence each in its London listing, valuing the company at as much as £3.3 billion (US$5.28 billion). The government plans to sell between 40.1 percent and 52.2 percent of near-500-year-old Royal Mail, which is expected to make its market debut on Oct. 11. It has also agreed to give away 10 percent of the company’s shares for free to staff.
E-COMMERCE
EBay to buy Braintree
EBay Inc reached a deal to buy online and mobile payments technology provider Braintree for US$800 million in cash. The company said on Thursday that it will operate Braintree as a separate business and expects to close the deal before the end of the year. Braintree’s payments technology is used by popular startups such as vacation rentals site Airbnb, cab-hailing app Uber and restaurant reservations site OpenTable.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford purchases Livio
Ford Motor Co said on Thursday that it acquired the startup company Livio in a bid to accelerate its efforts to help drivers safely access content on their smartphone while on the road. Livio, which is based in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, Michigan, develops software that lets drivers connect to their smartphones through their car radios or dashboard infotainment systems. Ford paid less than US$10 million for the 11-person startup, Ford chief technical officer Paul Mascarenas said. Livio will keep supplying its current customers, including General Motors Co.
CAMERAS
Olympus settles US lawsuit
Japanese camera giant Olympus said yesterday it has agreed to pay US$2.6 million to settle a US investor lawsuit stemming from a huge accounting scandal that hammered its shares. The claim was filed two years ago by an investor who claimed that a loss cover-up by Olympus executives was responsible for its plunging stock price. Olympus said yesterday it was embroiled in about 20 other lawsuits in Japan and overseas that had yet to be settled.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
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
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
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