PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK fires 110 staff in China
Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) PLC, which was fined 3 billion yuan (US$478.81 million) in China last year for bribery, is dismissing 110 of its employees in China for misconduct, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The company confirmed it had taken disciplinary action against staff whose conduct contravened its code of conduct, but declined to specify the number involved.
SWITZERLAND
Government neutral on SNB
The government said it has no plans to tamper with central bank independence, after the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) shock uncapping of the Swiss franc in January sparked a political backlash, a day after Reuters revealed the government has decided it needs closer ties with the SNB. “The federal council knows its purpose very well and that the SNB is independent,” government spokesman Andre Simonazzi said at a news conference on Friday. “It will not and does not intend to touch this.”
EUROZONE
France pledges 8bn euros
France is to commit 8 billion euros (US$8.67 billion) as part of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s plan to boost economic growth, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday on a visit to Luxembourg. EU leaders in December last year approved the broad outline of Juncker’s 315 billion euro investment plan, aimed at stimulating growth in Europe by financing hundreds of projects. Germany has committed 15 billion euros to the plan and Spain 1.5 billion euros.
METALS
Alcoa mulls cutbacks
US aluminum giant Alcoa said on Friday that it is weighing more cutbacks in its smelting and refining operations worldwide in the face of weak prices. Alcoa, which has been paring operations for more than a year, said it would review over the next year 500,000 tonnes of smelting capacity and 2.8 million tonnes of refining capacity “for possible curtailment or divestiture.” That could turn into a 14 percent cut in the company’s global smelting capacity and 16 percent of its refining capacity.
SOLAR ENERGY
Canada imposes China tariff
Canada has approved duties on imported Chinese solar equipment, escalating a trade dispute over what importers say are below-cost components, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. As of Thursday, companies including JinkoSolar Holding Co (晶科能源) and Trina Solar Solar Ltd (天合光能) must pay a tariff to sell products in Canada, according to a statement on the agency’s Web site. Preliminary duties linked to allegedly unfair trade practices were set by the agency and might change as the investigation continues, Canadian International Trade Tribunal spokesman Michel Parent said.
AUTOMAKERS
Chrysler recalls vehicles
Chrysler is recalling nearly 703,000 minivans and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to replace faulty ignition switches that can cause the vehicles to stall unexpectedly. The recall covers Dodge Journey SUVs and Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Caravan minivans produced between 2008 and 2010. The same vehicles were recalled in 2011 and last year but the fixes did not work.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is