SMARTPHONES
IDC sees low-cost growth
A research firm on Wednesday forecast that global smartphone sales are to jump 23 percent this year to more than 1.2 billion units, fueled by growth of low-cost handsets in emerging markets. An IDC survey predicts that smartphone sales will maintain an annual growth rate of 12.3 percent through 2018. Much of the growth is expected to come from low-cost devices using the Android operating system, with Apple Inc’s market share eroding, Microsoft Windows making modest gains and BlackBerry fading further, IDC said. The research firm said it expects Android to remain ahead of the pack with an 80.4 percent market share this year, and to lose a modest amount of ground to Windows over the coming years. The report said BlackBerry’s market share will be less than 1 percent this year — 0.8 percent, and keep dropping to 0.3 percent in 2018.
ECONOMY
Merkel tops ‘Forbes’ list
German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful women for the fourth consecutive year, followed by US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, the magazine said on Wednesday. Behind them came Melinda Gates, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her billionaire philanthropist husband, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and IMF chief Christine Lagarde. Hillary Clinton, former US first lady, one-time US secretary of state and possible repeat US presidential hopeful, was listed at No. 6. The annual list includes women in business, media, politics, technology, entertainment, philanthropy and nonprofits, billionaires and finance, a new category for the first time. Top businesswomen on the list include General Motors CEO Mary Barra (No. 7) — subject of the Forbes cover story — Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (No. 9) and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty (No. 10).
SPAIN
Spending raises Q1 growth
Growth gained momentum in the first quarter in Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy, as household and government spending increased. Gross domestic product increased 0.4 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said yesterday, confirming its April 30 first estimate. Growth accelerated from 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter as household spending rebounded, it said. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is counting on a recovery from a six-year slump to tackle the fourth-largest budget deficit in the EU amid a 25 percent jobless rate.
PHILIPPINES
Growth slides to 5.7%
Economic growth eased to below 6 percent for the first time in nine quarters, giving the central bank scope to keep interest rates at a record low. Stocks and the peso fell. GDP increased 5.7 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in Manila yesterday, after a 6.3 percent gain in the previous quarter. The median estimate of 22 economists was 6.4 percent. The fallout of natural disasters including Super Typhoon Haiyan in November last year weighed on growth last quarter, and the pace will pick up, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said yesterday. “This will probably be one of the weakest quarters this year,” said Philip McNicholas, a senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in Hong Kong. “The acceleration of the investment cycle as the Aquino administration moves to deal with the infrastructure deficit should boost growth later this year,” he said.
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