UNITED STATES
Post office loses US$1.9bn
The Postal Service ended its second quarter with a net loss of US$1.9 billion as first-class mail volume continued to tumble and legislators remained at odds over providing any financial relief, the agency said on Friday. The Postal Service’s net loss for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31 surpassed the first quarter’s loss of US$354 million, but it remained flat from the previous year. It was the 20th of the last 22 quarters that the agency has posted a loss, it said. The volume of first-class mail, the agency’s most profitable product, fell 4.1 percent in the second quarter as more residents chose to communicate and pay bills via the Internet. In the meantime, its shipping and packaging business remained a bright spot, with volume increasing 7.3 percent as e-commerce grows.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford recalls 692,000 SUVs
Ford is recalling more than 692,000 Escape small SUVs and C-Max gas-electric hybrids in North America to fix two safety problems. The recalls cover vehicles from the 2013 and 2014 model years. Most of the Escapes have both problems. The first case covers 692,500 Escape and C-Max vehicles. A software glitch can stop the side curtain air bags from inflating in certain types of rollover crashes. The company says it has no reports of crashes or injuries. Dealers will reprogram the air-bag control computer for free. About 65,000 of the recalled vehicles are C-Max models, and the rest are Escapes. About 591,000 are in the US, with 3,500 more in US territories. The affected Escapes were built from Oct. 5, 2011 through Feb. 14 this year. The C-Max vehicles were built from Jan. 19, 2012, through Feb. 24 this year. The second case covers about 692,700 Escapes. Exterior door handles can bind and stop the door from latching properly. This could allow doors to open while the SUVs are in motion.
BANKING
Swisspartners settles with US
Swiss asset management firm, Swisspartners Group, agreed to pay US$4.4 million to the US to settle a probe over whether it helped US taxpayers evade their federal income taxes, the US Department of Justice said on Friday. From about 2001 to about 2011, Swisspartners helped its US clients open and maintain undeclared foreign bank accounts, which allowed them to avoid paying taxes in full, a US Department of Justice statement said. US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara — whose office negotiated the settlement — said Swisspartners avoided criminal charges “as a direct result of its decision to self-report misconduct.”
ENERGY
Obama reveals solar plans
US President Barack Obama unveiled new solar energy plans on Friday, hailing the measures as a vital job-creating tool in the fight against climate change. Obama, wrapping up a three-day fundraising tour of California, announced commitments to develop solar power and energy efficiency by more than 300 private and public sector groups. Separate energy-efficiency investments will lower utility bills for more than 93 million m2 of buildings, the White House said. Obama also unveiled executive actions set to provide for an extra US$2 billion in energy-efficiency investments, improved buildings and smarter appliances.
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],”