ENTERTAINMENT
Sony sees film unit growth
Sony Corp said that new Spider-Man movies and more content based on PlayStation video games are aimed at helping drive revenue growth of as much as 36 percent at its pictures unit over the next three years. Sales are expected to rise to between US$10 billion and US$11 billion in the 12 months ending March 2018, compared with US$8.1 billion now, the company said in a statement yesterday. Sony plans to focus on “tent-pole” movies and TV programs to increase operating margin to as much as 8 percent from 6.6 percent. CEO Kazuo Hirai made a case yesterday to investors for growth in the entertainment business, more than a year after rejecting Daniel Loeb’s push to spin off part of the unit. Hirai is looking for ways to link the popularity of content like the Uncharted game franchise and Breaking Bad TV series to demand for Sony smartphones and televisions.
AUTOMAKERS
Fuel cell cars to go on sale
Toyota Motor Corp will introduce its first mass-market fuel cell car next month, hoping to replicate the success of its Prius hybrid with a vehicle that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline. The four-seater sedan, named Mirai, the Japanese word for “future,” will first go on sale in four cities in Japan on Dec. 15. Sales in the US and Europe will follow in the fourth quarter of next year, the world’s biggest automaker said, unveiling the car simultaneously in California and Tokyo. The ultimate “green car,” fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) run on electricity made by mixing hydrogen fuel and oxygen in the air — a technology first used in the Apollo moon project in the 1960s. Its only byproduct is heat and water — water so pure the Apollo astronauts drank it. Mirai will cost ¥6.7 million (US$57,460) before taxes in Japan, which yesterday announced a subsidy of ¥2.02 million on FCV purchases.
SOFTWARE
Snapcash takes off
Smartphone app Snapchat on Monday began letting users in the US send money to friends by simply typing dollar amounts into new “Snapcash” messages. The new feature came from a first collaboration between Snapchat and Square, a mobile payments company headed by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey. “The product you’re seeing today is fast, fun, and incredibly simple,” Snapchat, which has been eagerly looking to boost revenue, said in a blog post. Those opting to use the new feature must store their debit card numbers at Square to carry out the transfers and users must be 18 years of age or older. However, about half of Snapchat users are reported to be 17 or younger. Financial terms of the alliance between Snapchat and Square were not disclosed.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Actavis commits to R&D
Actavis, which is buying Botox-maker Allergan for US$66 billion in one of the biggest acquisitions announced so far this year, plans to stay committed to developing new products. CEO Brent Saunders said on Monday that the combined company would have more than two dozen products in late-stage clinical testing, which is usually the last and most expensive development phase, and it will work to support research. “It is the lifeblood of our company,” he told analysts. Actavis and the company it outbid for Allergan, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, have both grown rapidly in recent years through multibillion-dollar acquisitions of other drugmakers. However, experts say developing new products internally is still the preferred method for revenue growth if enough of that research is successful.
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],”