TECHNOLOGY
Microchip drops CSR plan
Microchip Technology Inc said it does not plan to make an offer for CSR PLC, the UK chipmaker that agreed to be bought by Qualcomm Inc a month ago for about US$2.4 billion. Microchip said it has terminated discussions regarding an approach for CSR, it said in a statement yesterday. In August, Chandler, Arizona-based Microchip said it had approached CSR regarding ways in which its relationship with the company could be advanced, including a possible acquisition. Qualcomm agreed to pay CSR shareholders £9 a share. The stock never closed above £8.57 since the agreement. Cambridge, England-based CSR had rejected Microchip’s initial approach in August. CSR, a pioneer in Bluetooth wireless technology, is benefiting as more gadgets connect to each other to exchange information. That market for the so-called Internet of Things could rise to US$7.1 trillion by 2020 from US$1.9 trillion last year, researcher International Data Corp has said.
CURRENCIES
Australia to host yuan hub
China is to establish an official currency clearinghouse in Australia, the leaders of the nations said yesterday after concluding talks on a long-awaited free-trade deal. The hub to be set up in Sydney is to facilitate trade in the yuan, a move that hopefully will further open up the powerhouse Asian economy to Australian businesses. The Reserve Bank of Australia said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the People’s Bank of China to establish the hub, which it hoped would help build bilateral trade between the major trading partners. “The clearing arrangements will provide a more direct means of facilitating cross-border RMB [renminbi, or the yuan] transactions between Australian and Chinese entities than was previously available,” the bank said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Pfizer buying Merck drug
Pfizer Inc is to pay US$850 million for rights to a cancer drug being developed by Merck KGaA, in a move that is expected to accelerate the German company’s move into oncology treatments in the US. The agreement also calls for Pfizer to pay as much as US$2 billion to Merck if the drug, known as MSB0010718C, meets commercial and regulatory goals, Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck said in a statement yesterday. Pfizer lowered its forecast for earnings this year to reflect the US$850 million up-front payment. The drug aims to use the body’s immune system to fight tumors. Merck said in September that it was seeking a partner for the product, which it is studying in lung and ovarian cancer.
BANKING
Bankers’ pay gets scrutiny
Regulators might need to look at new rules to control the fixed pay and bonuses of bankers so that they can be clawed back in the event of wrongdoing, Bank of England Governor Mark Cerney said yesterday. Developed economies have brought in a series of reforms to financial sector bonuses in recent years, with laws to defer when they are paid and the ability to take them back in the event of banker misconduct or excessive risk-taking. In response, many banks are reported to have raised the fixed level of pay awarded to their staff. Carney’s comments came less than a week after five banks in different nations were fined a total of US$4.3 billion for failing to prevent traders from trying to rig the foreign-exchange market, the latest in a series of scandals since the global financial crisis.
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],”