MACROECONOMICS
UK economy bounces back
The UK economy is “more than halfway” down the path to full recovery, but any interest rate rises are to be “limited” and “gradual,” Bank of England Governer Mark Carney said yesterday. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Carney declared that the economy was now undergoing genuine expansion following the economic crisis of 2008. “Wherever the finish line was in the depths of the crisis, we are much more than halfway towards that finish line now,” he said. “The expansion is proceeding, momentum is more assured; the very fact we have had consistent quarters of growth in line with, or slightly better than, our forecasts shows that.” Carney sought to reassure indebted householders that interest rates were not set to rise sharply any time soon. “There are big pockets of households who will be very sensitive to interest rate increases when they begin, so it makes sense to be gradual,” he said.
MACROECONOMICS
Serbia plans privatization
Serbia put 502 loss-making state-owned companies and media outlets on sale on Friday in a dramatic bid to cut the country’s rising budget deficit. The giant copper mine at Bor, one of the biggest in Europe, is among the businesses that the state privatization agency wants bids for by Sept. 14. Among the companies offered for sale on its Web site are fertilizer producer HIP Azotara Co, pharmaceutical giant Galenika, furniture maker Simpo and agricultural group PKB. A number of media outlets, including the oldest newspaper in the Balkans, Politika, and dozens of local radio and TV stations are also going under the hammer. In hopes of speeding up the sales, the agency said it had prepared plans for a number of different models of privatization.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung to stay as sponsor
Samsung has extended its top sponsorship contract as an Olympics worldwide partner to 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday. Samsung, who first signed up as a top sponsor with the IOC in 1998 and was a local sponsor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as well, plans to support all Games up to and including the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The 2016 Olympic Games are to be held in Rio de Janeiro while the 2018 Winter Olympics are to be held in South Korea’s Pyeongchang. Other major sponsors, including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Panasonic and Atos have signed up until 2020 or beyond.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Roche eyes Chugai share
Roche Holding AG is in talks to buy the almost 40 percent of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co it does not already own to gain full control of its Japanese partner for oncology and arthritis drugs, according to people familiar with the matter. Roche, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, plans to pay about US$10 billion to buy the remaining stake in Tokyo-based Chugai, the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans are private. The deal could be announced as early as this week, though no final decision has been made, one of the people said. Chugai yesterday denied talks with Roche are ongoing, saying in a statement it is “in no way in the process of reviewing any plan to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Roche.” Roche owned 62 percent of Chugai as of June 30 this year, according to the Swiss company’s annual report.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks