CHINA
PMI hits seven-month low
Chinese manufacturing activity contracted last month, HSBC’s closely watched purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed yesterday, as the world’s second-largest economy is buffeted by domestic headwinds. The British banking giant’s final PMI for the month came in at 49.6, it said in a statement, slightly up from a preliminary reading of 49.5, but still the lowest in seven months. It also marked the first contraction since May’s 49.4. Readings above 50 indicate growth, while anything below points to shrinkage.
SOUTH KOREA
Inflation at 14-month low
South Korean inflation hit its lowest point for 14 months last month, reflecting plunging oil prices, state data showed yesterday. Consumer prices last month rose 0.8 percent from a year ago, slowing from 1 percent growth in November, state-run Statistics Korea said. That marked the lowest gain since October 2013, when consumer prices rose 0.9 percent. Inflation for the whole of last year rose 1.3 percent after growing at the same pace in 2013. The core consumer price index, excluding volatile energy and food prices, rose 1.6 percent last month, unchanged from a month earlier.
VIETNAM
Economy grew 5.98%
The economy grew to a three-year high of 5.98 percent last year, despite a festering banking crisis and damaging anti-China riots, authorities said yesterday. The figure — higher than 2013’s growth of 5.42 percent and 5.25 percent in 2012 — marks “a positive sign,” according to a statement on the Web site of the General Statistics Office. Inflation last year slowed to 4.09 percent, from 6.04 percent in 2013, the office added. The government is targeting economic growth of 6.2 percent this year.
SINGAPORE
GDP growth slows to 2.8%
Singapore’s economic growth cooled last year and the nation will experience slower expansion than it has been used to, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said yesterday. GDP rose 2.8 percent this year, Lee, 62, said in his New Year message. That is below a November forecast of about 3 percent and an expansion of 3.9 percent in 2013.
UKRAINE
Economy shrinks 7.5%
The Ukrainian economy likely shrank 7.5 percent last year, after the conflict with eastern separatists and Russia’s takeover of Crimea helped trigger a “full-scale” financial crisis, central bank Governor Valeriya Gontareva said on Tuesday. The banking system is “non-functioning,” and the rate of the hryvnia, which fell 48 percent against the US dollar last year to become the world’s worst-
performing currency, reflects its true value, Gontareva said at a briefing at the bank in Kiev. When asked whether Ukraine would default on its debt, she said: “We don’t want to be a pariah country.”
UNITED STATES
Consumer confidence up
Consumer confidence rebounded last month after falling the previous month, the Conference Board reported on Tuesday. The consumer confidence index rose to 92.6 from 88.7 in November, still shy of the year’s peak at 94.5 in October, but well up from 77.5 a year ago. Consumers views of the current situation in the economy were fairly strong, but the outlook for the next half year dimmed, with the expectations sub-index dropping to 88.5 from 89.3, according to the board.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks