CHINA
Home prices rising faster
Increases in home prices accelerated further last month, an independent survey showed on Tuesday, while showing some signs of stabilization as authorities fine-tune policies to keep prices in check. The average price of a new home in 100 major cities rose 11.51 percent year-on-year to 10,833 yuan (US$1,800) per square meter, according to the China Index Academy, which compiled the survey. That outpaced gains of 10.99 percent in November, 10.69 percent in October and 9.48 percent in September, said the academy, the research unit of real-estate Web site operator Soufun Holdings Ltd (搜房網). Prices last month also rose 0.7 percent from the previous month, the data showed, in line with November’s 0.68 percent gain.
SINGAPORE
GDP growth beats targets
The city-state’s trade-sensitive economy exceeded forecasts that it would expand 3.7 percent last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said on Tuesday, as it benefited from a stabilizing global economic environment. In a New Year’s message e-mailed to the media, Lee said the growth rate was “better than initially expected.” It topped a previous forecast he made in August of 2.5 to 3.5 percent growth, amid global uncertainties. He said the economy, which is seen as a bellwether for the region, is expected to achieve 2 to 4 percent growth this year.
COSMETICS
Revlon exiting China
US cosmetics company Revlon on Tuesday said it was shutting down its operations in China to cut costs, eliminating about 1,100 positions. Revlon said its China business represented about 2 percent of total sales, which topped US$1.4 billion worldwide in 2012, and that the move would lead to savings of about US$11 million a year. It said most of the 1,100 jobs cut will be in China, including approximately 940 beauty advisers that were hired indirectly through a third-party agency. The company will incur about US$22 million in pre-tax charges due to the restructuring, of which US$20.9 million was being recorded as a charge last month.
TRADE
Seoul’s surplus widens
South Korea’s trade surplus widened to a new high of US$44.19 billion last year, helped by steady growth in exports, government data showed yesterday. Total exports last year rose 2.2 percent from a year ago to a record-high US$559.72 billion, while imports fell 0.8 percent to US$515.53 billion, according to the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The trade balance has been in the black since February 2012. Last month, exports climbed 7.1 percent year-on-year to US$48.05 billion, while imports rose 3 percent to US$44.38 billion. Economic officials said Asia’s fourth-largest economy would remain on track for recovery. The government has predicted the economy would grow 2.8 percent last year and 3.9 percent this year.
ZIMBABWE
Ownership rules tightened
A government ban on foreigners owning a majority stake in a host of businesses from bakeries to beauty salons was to go into effect yesterday, Minister of Indigenization Francis Nhema said on Tuesday. Foreigners will only be allowed to own minority stakes in the businesses if they have local partners and will be given between four and five years to comply with the new law. The ban will also include estate agencies, grain mills, retail outlets, milk processing plants, transport and valet services.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is