ECONOMY
China to liberalize rates
China is set to accelerate liberalization of interest rates and encourage a multilayered capital market as the country seeks to adapt to a “new normal” of slower growth, People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng (潘功勝) yesterday said at a conference in Beijing. “The economic new normal places new challenges on financial reform,” Pan said in a speech. “New growth engines will rely on the market forces.” The central bank acted unexpectedly last month to cut its deposit and lending rates for the first time in more than two years.
AUTOMAKERS
Chrysler recall expanded
The automaker formerly known as Chrysler Group LLC gave in to pressure from US regulators and expanded a recall of Takata Corp air bags. The expansion adds 2.89 million vehicles in the US and more than 400,000 in Canada, Mexico and other nations, according to a statement from the automaker on Friday, which this week changed its name to FCA US LLC. Vehicles affected include some Dodge pickups, Chrysler 300 sedans and Dodge Magnum station wagons.
AVIATION
EasyJet stewards to strike
EasyJet flight attendants, angry over scheduling and pay, announced on Friday a strike expected to force the low-cost carrier to cancel about half its flights in France the day after Christmas. Though workers in SNPNC-FO and UNAC unions said their strike is to start on Thursday, there are no flights scheduled that day, so the walkout is only set to impact travelers flying on Friday.
OIL
Japanese firm to buy rival
Japan’s second-largest oil distributor, Idemitsu Kosan Co, is planning to acquire its smaller rival Showa Shell Sekiyu KK in a deal worth an estimated US$4.18 billion, a report yesterday said. The deal, which would create a firm controlling nearly one third of the domestic market, would see Showa Shell’s largest shareholder, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, selling shares in a tender offer, the Nikkei Sangyo Shimbum said without naming its sources.
NIGERIA
CBN moves to protect naira
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday announced new measures aimed at curbing currency speculation as part of an effort to defend the naira which has been hit hard by the collapse in global oil prices. Customers who purchase foreign currency through the interbank market or an authorized trader must use the currency within 48 hours or they will be forced to sell it back to the central bank at a price to be fixed by the bank, a statement said.
TELECOMS
T-Mobile US to pay refunds
T-Mobile US Inc is to pay at least US$90 million, mostly in refunds, for billing customers for cellphone text services they did not order. The US Federal Trade Commission on Friday announced an agreement with T-Mobile over billing for unauthorized charges, a practice known as “cramming.” T-Mobile, the fourth-largest US cellphone company, is paying at least US$67.5 million in refunds to affected customers plus US$18 million in fines to the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and US$4.5 million in fines to the US Federal Communications Commission.
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