METALS
China gold demand slumps
Gold demand in China shrank for a third quarter as slumping prices failed to boost the purchases of bars, coins and jewelry in the world’s biggest user and officials pressed on with a nationwide anti-graft campaign. Buying in China tumbled 37 percent to 182.7 tonnes in the three months to September from the same period last year, the World Gold Council said in a report yesterday. India was the only Asian economy tracked by the producer-funded group that bought more bullion than China as usage across the biggest consuming region contracted 15 percent to 473.4 tonnes.
MACROECONOMICS
China losing momentum
China’s economy lost further momentum last month, with factory growth dipping and investment growth hitting a near 13-year low. Last month’s factory output rose 7.7 percent, which was higher that August’s 6.9 percent, but below forecasts and the second-weakest pace since the height of the global financial crisis. Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of growth, grew 15.9 percent in the first 10 months of the year from the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. That was the weakest pace since December 2001.
INTEREST RATES
Bank of Korea keeps rates
The central bank yesterday kept the key interest rate unchanged at 2 percent for this month, as its governor warned of a “worrisome” drop in the Japanese yen and its possible impact on exports. The decision came after the Bank of Korea cut the overnight interbank lending rate in August and last month. In a statement, the Bank of Korea forecast that the global economy would “sustain its modest recovery going forward,” but warned of destabilizing variables such as sluggishness in the eurozone and slowing growth in some emerging markets.
INTEREST RATES
Indonesia rates unchanged
The central bank kept benchmark borrowing costs unchanged in its first meeting since President Joko Widodo took office, refraining from tightening policy before the government raises fuel prices. Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo and his board left the reference rate at 7.5 percent, the central bank said in Jakarta yesterday, staying on hold for a 12th straight month following 1.75 percentage points of increases last year.
MACROECONOMICS
German inflation flat
Inflation in Europe’s biggest economy remained at the low level of 0.8 percent for the fourth month in a row last month, final data showed yesterday. Confirming an earlier flash estimate, the federal statistics office Destatis calculated that German inflation stood at just 0.8 percent year-on-year last month, unchanged since July. The last time inflation in Germany fell below 0.8 percent was in February 2010.
TRADE
Fast-track trade deals urged
US businesses and industry groups urged Congress on Wednesday to give the White House authority to fast-track trade deals before the end of the year, saying it was a critical tool to complete major trade deals. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, a coalition of more than 200 industry groups and major companies said the so-called trade promotion authority, which allows lawmakers to set priorities for trade deals in return for a yes or no vote, would help US firms access global markets.
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