CURRENCY
Chinese yuan ‘undervalued’
The US Treasury said on Wednesday that China does not manipulate its currency, but pushed Beijing to do more to focus on domestic demand — not exports — to drive economic growth. In a twice-yearly report to Congress, which would set sanctions on any country officially branded a “manipulator,” the Treasury said the yuan, or renminbi, had “partially recovered” from a sharp plunge earlier in the year and had appreciated by 1.9 percent since late April. However, the yuan remained “significantly undervalued,” the Treasury said.
INVESTMENT
China foreign investment up
China’s overseas investment almost doubled year-on-year to US$9.79 billion last month, the Chinese government said yesterday, again exceeding incoming funds even though they recovered from multi-year lows. Foreign direct investment (FDI) — which excludes financial sectors — into China came in at US$9.01 billion for the month, the commerce ministry said, up only 1.9 percent year-on-year but a significant improvement on August’s US$7.20 billion, which was the lowest since July 2010. For the first nine months, total FDI stood at US$87.36 billion, down 1.4 percent year-on-year.
TECHNOLOGY
Taxi app pulls out of market
Hailo, the taxi app launched with the help of London cab drivers, is pulling out of North America, citing tough competition from rivals such as Uber and Lyft. Tom Barr, co-chief executive and president, said Hailo would concentrate on markets in Europe and Asia and enhanced products such as payment technology and a “concierge” service. Hailo also operates in Britain, Ireland, Spain, Singapore and Japan.
INSURANCE
NAB set to sell off division
AIA Group Ltd and MetLife Inc are among companies weighing bids for National Australia Bank Ltd’s (NAB) life insurance unit, which could fetch as much as A$1.5 billion (US$1.3 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said. National Australia, the nation’s largest lender by assets, is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co on the possible disposal of the insurance business run by its MLC Ltd unit, the sources said. It has not made a final decision to sell the division, they said.
AIRLINES
CEO to make way for deputy
Air France-KLM Group said the CEO of its Dutch subsidiary, Camiel Eurlings, would step down with immediate effect before his contract expires and be succeeded by his deputy, Pieter Elbers. Eurlings is to leave before his term runs out in April next year, after working at KLM for four years, according to a statement yesterday. The CEO decided to make room for Elbers after consulting with the board, the release said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Drug treatments approved
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug treatments for a deadly disease that causes severe lung damage. The agency on Wednesday approved two novel treatments from Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Patients with the disease experience lung damage over time that makes it difficult to breathe properly. Currently the disease is treated with oxygen therapy, rehabilitation and lung transplants. Boehringer’s Ofev and Roche’s Esbriet both work by blocking mechanisms thought to cause lung scarring.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian laborer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague’s waiting arms about 15m below. Among Thailand’s most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent “king of fruits” is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years. However, a vicious heat wave engulfing Southeast Asia has resulted in smaller yields and spiraling costs, with growers and sellers increasingly panicked as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,”
HIGH-TECH: As leading-edge process technologies become more complicated, only a handful of players are able to provide design services, the company’s CEO said Artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) yesterday said that revenue would grow significantly again in 2026 after adding a major AI chip customer, reversing moderation amid a product transition next year. The Taipei-based application-specific IC (ASIC) designer reiterated its strong revenue growth forecast for this year and 2026 after its stock plummeted about 23 percent to NT$3,145 from a peak of NT$4,085 on March 6 amid growing competition. Alchip said it has built strong partnerships with cloud service providers (CSP), denying that it had lost orders to smaller competitors such as Faraday Technology Corp (智原). Faraday said it has secured