AUTOMAKERS
Chrysler to recall vehicles
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is doing a second recall of 703,000 minivans and SUVs with a defective ignition switch that can rotate out of position, similar to the faulty General Motors Co part tied to dozens of deaths. The action covers the 2008-2010 Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Journey, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document posted on its Web site on Friday. The company previously tried to fix the switch defect, which can lead vehicles to stall, lose power and disable their air bags, in recalls announced in 2011 and last year. GM’s ignition-switch defect, now linked to 57 deaths in crashes, led to the recall of 2.59 million small cars.
INTERNET
Google planning VR Android
Internet giant Google Inc is making a version of its Android operating system to power virtual reality (VR) apps, the Wall Street Journal reported. The California-based company has set up a team of “tens of engineers” to build the version of the operating system that can be integrated in future devices, the Journal said on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the project. It added that Google plans to distribute it for free, much as it did with Android in a move that made it the most popular operating system for smartphones. However, Google’s project faces fierce competition from Facebook Inc, owner of virtual reality headgear star Oculus Rift, among others. The technology made headlines early in the week as headgear makers took center stage at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
STEELMAKERS
China’s steel exports drop
Steel exports from China, the world’s largest producer, fell for the first time in six months as new tax rules for some shipments began to slow sales. The country shipped 7.8 million tonnes of steel products last month, down 24 percent from 10.29 million tons the previous month, according to data released yesterday by the customs administration in Beijing. The government canceled export-tax rebates starting on Jan. 1 for alloys that contain the chemical element boron as part of its efforts to cut oversupply in the industry. The slowdown comes after shipments by the country that accounts for about half the world’s steel output surged to a record last year amid weak domestic demand. China has set its economic growth target for this year at about 7 percent, down from last year’s goal of about 7.5 percent. Steel prices fell more than 4 percent this year in Shanghai after plunging 27 percent last year.
CENTRAL BANKS
Oil prices hurting Canada
The impact of plunging oil prices is hitting Canada’s economy earlier than expected and might lead to disappointing first-quarter growth, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said in an interview with the Globe and Mail. Canada’s central bank chief said economic growth in the first quarter might be weaker than the 1.5 percent annualized rate the bank anticipated in January, while second-quarter growth would exceed the central bank’s 1.5 percent projection. Poloz said Canada’s economy experienced the initial effects of the oil-price decline in the fourth quarter, which was earlier than he expected. The earlier-than-anticipated impact of oil’s slide might mean the economic slowdown is front-loaded, although the Bank of Canada has not formally adjusted its projections for the first half, the Globe reported, citing Poloz.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”