OIL
Saudi says no to output cut
OPEC will not cut oil production, even if the price drops to US$20 a barrel, and it is unfair to expect the cartel to reduce output if non-members do not, Saudi Arabia said. “Whether it goes down to US$20 a barrel, US$40, US$50, US$60, it is irrelevant,” Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali al-Naimi said in an interview with the Middle East Economic Survey, an industry weekly. In unusually detailed comments, al-Naimi defended a decision by OPEC last month to maintain a production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day. The decision sent global crude prices tumbling, worsening a price drop that has fallen by about 50 percent since June.
TELECOMS
Telstra to buy Pacnet
Telstra Corp will acquire Pacnet Ltd, which operates undersea cables in the Asia-Pacific region, as Australia’s largest telephone company seeks to expand in the region. The US$697 million transaction, which includes gross debt of about US$400 million, will be completed by the middle of next year, subject to regulatory and Pacnet financier approvals, Melbourne-based Telstra said in a statement. Singapore and Hong Kong-based Pacnet will give Telstra an expanded data center network, more submarine cables and major customers across the region, it said.
TRAVEL
Italy fines TripAdvisor
Italy’s competition watchdog has fined travel Web site TripAdvisor 500,000 euros (US$613,000) for publishing misleading information in its reviews, it said on Monday. The fine follows a seven-month investigation into whether the Web site takes appropriate measures to avoid publishing false opinions while presenting them as genuine, following a complaint from consumers and hotel owners in Italy. The Rome-based regulator said the US company and its Italian arm should stop “publishing misleading information about the sources of its reviews,” adding that the practice started in September 2011. TripAdvisor said it disagreed with the antitrust authority’s decision and would appeal it.
INTERNET
Lines rebuts spying report
The parent company of the Line mobile-chat application yesterday denied press reports in Thailand that the military government is monitoring messages sent through the service. “No monitoring by the Thailand government has been conducted,” Nam Ji-woong, a spokesman for South Korea-based Naver Corp, which owns Line Corp, said by e-mail. The government was monitoring more than 40 million messages sent via Line each day, Khaosod newspaper reported, citing Thai Minister of Information, Communication and Technology Pornchai Rujiprapa. Pornchai said the ministry could see what messages were being forwarded and was focusing on those deemed libelous, anti-royalty or threatening national security, the report said.
INTERNET
Facebook censors dissent
The blocking of a Facebook Inc page promoting a Russian opposition rally highlights the challenges the social network faces in the country as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks more control over the Web. Facebook agreed to block the page at the request of Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor, agency spokesman Vadim Ampelonskiy said yesterday. The watchdog asks social media to shut access to Web sites calling for mass protest and extremism, Ampelonskiy said. A Facebook representative declined to comment.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure