ENERGY
China coal production drops
China recorded its first drop in coal production since 2000 last year, as the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter reduces its use of coal and switches to cleaner energy sources. According to China’s National Coal Association, China produced 3.5 billion tonnes of coal in the first 11 months of last year, 2.1 percent less than the same period in 2013. The association estimates the drop for the entire year would reach 2.5 percent. The report, quoted by Xinhua news agency on Friday, said the profits of major Chinese coal companies dropped 44 percent in that same period to 110.5 billion yuan (US$17.73 billion) amid low global coal prices.
TRADE
Japan to buy more US rice
Japan has offered to import more rice from the US in a compromise aimed at pushing forward the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Nikkei Business Daily reported yesterday. The report, citing unidentified sources, said Japan was offering to increase its tariff-free quota for imported rice and import “tens of thousands” of tonnes of additional rice from the US. It plans to maintain existing rice tariffs, it said. In turn, the US has dropped its request that Japan ease safety standards on car imports, the report said.
RETAIL
Cairo Carrefour recovers
The owner of Carrefour SA’s franchise for the Middle East is to pursue expansion in Egypt after business at a shopping mall in Cairo’s suburbs has recovered from looting seen during the 2011 revolt that ended former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s rule. “There is probably no worse challenge than 2011 when the mall was looted,” Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC chief executive officer Iyad Malas said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We decided to reinstate the asset, all the tenants came back, trading has come back, actually it’s better than pre-crisis level.” The company plans to open another mall — Mall of Egypt — in the first quarter of next year, Malas said.
MACROECONOMICS
UK to release GDP forecast
Britain’s economic growth forecasts for the fourth quarter of last year range from 0.5 percent to 0.8 percent growth, according to a Bloomberg survey. For the full year, GDP was estimated to have risen 2.6 percent, according to a separate poll. Britain’s Office for National Statistics is set to publish the estimate for the quarter, which is to be based on about 44 percent of the data that will become available, at 9:30am tomorrow.
AVIATION
IAG improves Aer Lingus bid
Officials say the parent company of British Airways has made a third, improved takeover approach to Irish airline Aer Lingus Group PLC and an announcement of the offer is expected today. The 2.5 euro per share offer by International Airlines Group (IAG) values the Dublin-based carrier at 1.3 billion euros (US$1.45 billion). Over the past month Aer Lingus has rejected two lower-priced proposals from IAG. IAG and Aer Lingus officials confirmed the value of Friday’s improved offer to reporters. The companies are expected to disclose details of the transaction today at announcements to stock exchanges in London and Dublin. Aer Lingus’ two biggest shareholders are Ryanair Holdings PLC and the Irish government.
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
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
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)