SOUTH KOREA
Exports make good start
South Korea’s exports got off to a good start last month as signs of economic recovery in the EU and Southeast Asia offset the risks from a weak yen, the trade ministry said yesterday. Exports came to US$45.584 billion last month, down 0.2 percent from last year as there were two less working days in the month compared with the previous year due to the Lunar New Year holiday that began on Thursday. Imports came to US$44.849 billion last month, down 0.9 percent on-year, mainly due to smaller crude oil imports, leaving a US$735 million trade surplus, up from US$400 million a year earlier.
JAPAN
Listed firms gain traction
Nearly 70 percent of listed Japanese companies are likely to post sales and profit growth this business year, a sign they are gaining traction after years of deflation, a report said yesterday. More than 1,000 companies out of about 1,500 firms listed on stock markets are on track to log annual rises in both sales and recurring profits for the business year ending in March, the Nikkei business daily said. The 1,500 companies are expected to post a combined 10 percent rise in sales and a 28 percent increase in recurring profit, the daily said, citing its tally of the companies’ forecasts.
ECONOMY
Dubai projects worry IMF
The IMF is warning that Dubai’s megaprojects could increase the risk of a real estate bubble. The city, part of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, has proposed a large area around a new airport with hotels, housing and a new conference center to host the world Expo 2020. However, the IMF cautioned that if these projects are not “implemented prudently” they could exacerbate the danger of a bubble and create additional risks for government-owned companies and the banking system, still recovering from a 2009 financial crisis.
BRAZIL
Deficit hits four-year high
Brazil’s fiscal deficit rose to 3.28 percent of the country’s GDP last year, the highest level in four years, the central bank said on Friday. That was sharply up from 2.39 percent in 2012, as economic growth in Latin America’s largest economy continued to slump despite government efforts to stimulate it. The deficit reached 157.5 billion reais (US$65 billion) last year, nearly one-third more than in the previous years.
PAYMENT SERVICES
MasterCard earnings up 3%
MasterCard Inc’s fourth-quarter earnings climbed 3 percent as rising payment volume countered a jump in expenses, but the results fell short of financial analysts’ expectations. Net income grew to US$623 million, or US$0.52 per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31, compared with US$605 million, or US$0.49 per share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 12 percent to US$2.13 billion, as consumers hit stores for holiday shopping.
MULTINATIONALS
IBM top brass ditch bonuses
IBM CEO Virginia Rometty and the rest of her senior management team are relinquishing their bonuses for last year as penance for the technology company’s lackluster performance. The decision disclosed in a Friday regulatory filing will result in a substantial pay cut for the affected executives, whose annual bonuses often exceed their salaries. IBM’s revenue slipped 5 percent last year. The Armonk, New York, company’s earnings dipped by less than 1 percent, thanks to cost cutting. Rometty still received a US$1.5 million salary last year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”