AUTOMAKERS
Japanese rivals join forces
Japan’s eight carmakers have joined forces to develop environmentally friendly engines to stave off fierce competition from foreign rivals, a press report said yesterday. Two of Japan’s leading universities — the University of Tokyo and Waseda University — will join Toyota Motor Corp, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu and Fuji Heavy in the project, which is mainly aimed at slashing engine emissions to meet tougher environmental standards, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. By 2020 the group, which includes, plans to develop technology, which can cut diesel engine carbon-dioxide emissions by 30 percent from 2010 levels. The manufacturers plan to adapt the technology for commercial use in both diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles, the Nikkei said, hoping to gain a leg up over European carmakers, as well as helping to meet strict global regulations.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla biggest employer
As quietly as one of its electric cars, Tesla Motors Inc has become the biggest auto-industry employer in California. Tesla now employs more than 6,000 people in the state, the automaker said, offering the first public snapshot of its workforce this year. That moves the fast-growing company well ahead of Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, which has 5,300 direct employees in California — a count set to fall after the Japan-based company said it would move a majority of those jobs to Texas by 2017.
GERMANY
Russia sanctions a concern
Industry is ramping up efforts to dissuade Chancellor Angela Merkel from imposing tough new economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, warning of lasting damage to domestic firms and the broader economy if Moscow is hit hard. Although companies have toned down their public criticism of sanctions since the CEO of Siemens was vilified in the press for meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in late March, a behind-the-scenes lobby effort remains in full force. A confidential paper from the German-Russian chamber of foreign trade, which was sent to the government two weeks ago, shows the extent of the concern in business circles. “Deeper economic sanctions would lead to a situation where contracts would increasingly be given to domestic firms, projects would be suspended or delayed by the Russian side, and Russian industry and politicians would turn to Asia, in particular China,” the paper says.
BANKING
Credit Suisse heads may roll
Credit Suisse Group AG’s chief executive officer Brady Dougan and chairman Urs Rohner could step down as the bank moves to resolve a criminal investigation over tax evasion in the US, SonntagsZeitung reported. Rohner’s resignation letter is being drafted, said the paper, which reported on Saturday that a settlement agreement between Credit Suisse and US authorities is scheduled to be announced today, citing lawyers briefed on the deal. Tages-Anzeiger, another Swiss newspaper, reported on Saturday that “signs are mounting” that Dougan will be replaced. Dougan, 54, the first American to serve as sole CEO of the Swiss firm, is one of the few global bank heads to have endured the financial crisis and the scandals that followed. The Zurich-based bank has reached an agreement to plead guilty to charges it conspired to help Americans evade taxes and pay about US$2.5 billion to the US Department of Justice and regulators, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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