TRADE
Japan’s deficit decreases
Japan’s trade deficit narrowed 2.4 percent year-on-year to US$8.7 billion last month largely due to shrinking energy bills that had soared in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, official data showed yesterday. The country’s deficit stood at ¥948.5 billion (US$8.71 billion) against the year-before shortfall of ¥971.4 billion, the finance ministry said. The data, although better than the market median forecast of a ¥1.028 trillion deficit, extended the run of shortfalls to a 26th straight month. Exports slipped 1.3 percent to ¥5.71 trillion, affected by lower shipments of chemical products and cars, while imports were down 1.5 percent to ¥6.65 trillion as imports of crude oil and coal fell.
ECONOMY
Sweden’s GDP grows 0.7%
Sweden’s economy expanded more than originally estimated in the second quarter as consumer spending grew, the statistics agency said yesterday. GDP grew a quarterly 0.7 percent, revised from a 0.2 percent estimate in July, Statistics Sweden said. The economy grew an annual 2.6 percent, compared with an estimate for 1.9 percent in July. Sweden’s central bank earlier this month kept its main interest rate at 0.25 percent to fight off the threat of deflation.
INDONESIA
Optimism over GDP targets
Indonesian Finance Minister Chatib Basri said yesterday he was “optimistic” the country could achieve 7 percent growth by 2017, but warned that incoming president Joko Widodo faces a major challenge in pushing much-needed infrastructure development. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy expanded just 5.12 percent in the second quarter to June, its slowest rate in five years, highlighting the problems facing the reform-minded Widodo when he takes office next month. Widodo has pledged to raise GDP growth to 7 percent a year within two years by attracting foreign investment, especially to the manufacturing sector and cutting red tape, but many economists consider the target ambitious.
TRADE
S Korea to scrap rice caps
After announcing it would scrap rice import caps from next year, the South Korean government yesterday proposed an initial 513 percent tariff to soften the impact on a crucial domestic market. The rate will have to be verified and confirmed by the WTO — a process that could take months. The government also plans to spend a record 376 trillion won (US$363 billion) next year and delay reaching a surplus by at least two years as the government increases support for a slowing economy. The increase — the biggest since the 2009 budget — aims to cushion the country from the global financial crisis.
SMARTPHONES
iPhone 6 casings stolen
Chinese authorities have arrested a suspect in a case involving the leak of information about Apple Inc’s iPhone 6, which is assembled by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團), according to Chinese media. Hon Hai, which operates in China as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said it will conduct an internal investigation and will cooperate fully with police in the investigation. The suspect, a 40-year-old man surnamed Qiao (喬), was working at a Foxconn factory in Jincheng City in Shanxi Province and allegedly stole six iPhone 6 casings and sold them in a Shenzhen market in the southern province of Guangdong in June and July. He was arrested by law enforcement authorities on Sept. 4, the report said.
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],”