MACROECONOMICS
Australian inflation slows
Inflation was weaker than expected in the first quarter, data showed yesterday, easing pressure on the central bank to hike interest rates as it tries to support the economy in its transition from a mining-driven boom. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6 percent in the January-to-March period from the previous three months, when it climbed 0.8 percent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. In the year to last month, the CPI was up 2.9 percent, within the central bank’s growth target of 2 to 3 percent. The main drivers of price rises were tobacco (up 6.7 percent), gasoline (up 4.1 percent) and pharmaceuticals (up 6.1 percent), while the cost of high-school and university education also recorded rises of 6 percent and 4.3 percent respectively, the bureau said.
MACROECONOMICS
Thailand expects Q1 dip
The Bank of Thailand left its benchmark interest rate unchanged yesterday, as expected, but said full-year growth may come in weaker than forecast due to the toll from prolonged political unrest. The export-reliant economy is set to post its first quarterly contraction in a year in the January-to-March quarter as consumption and investment fall, the central bank said at its policy meeting. Its Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-1 to hold the one-day repurchase rate steady at 2 percent, a level last seen in December 2010. Bank of Thailand Assistant Governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan told a news conference that this year’s growth would likely fall short of its 2.7 percent forecast.
MACROECONOMICS
BOJ not buying bonds
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will not buy bonds just to keep down government debt-servicing costs after it achieves its goal of stable 2 percent inflation. “If we reach our target and prices are stable, we have no intention of moving away from our goal and implementing policy to reduce debt-servicing costs,” he said in parliament yesterday in response to a question from opposition lawmaker and former economics minister Seiji Maehara, who said the central bank could be smacked around and told to do something if yields rise.
BANKING
Deutsche mulls job cuts
Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, is trimming its equities team in Latin America and is considering shutting its equities business in Chile, two people familiar with the matter said. The bank is trimming headcount in locations that serve Latin America, such as Sao Paulo and Santiago, as well as New York. No details on the number of staff to be cut were reported. However, the bank does not plan to cut jobs in Mexico, a location it considers a priority along with Brazil, one of the sources said. The company will continue to invest in more profitable businesses in Latin America.
BANKING
Barclays may lay off 7,500
Barclays PLC may have to eliminate 7,500 jobs at its investment bank to improve returns at its securities unit, a report by Sanford Bernstein said. The European fixed-income, currencies and commodities business might be the hardest hit with about 5,000 job losses, analysts led by Chirantan Barua said in a note on Tuesday. Cuts of 6,500 to 7,500 equate to about 25 to 30 percent of the unit’s employees, the report estimated. London-based Barclays should eliminate managing directors first, followed by more junior positions, Barua said.
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