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.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks