AUTOMAKERS
Tesla cuts jobs in China
Tesla Motors Inc, the electric car manufacturer led by billionaire Elon Musk, said it is cutting jobs in China after a local newspaper reported the company will reduce staff by 30 percent. Tesla is to eliminate some positions as it makes structural changes to its business in China, Tesla spokesman Gary Tao said yesterday. Tao said he did not know how many jobs would be affected. The Chinese-language newspaper Economic Observer reported that Tesla would eliminate 180 of the 600 positions at its China unit because sales have not met expectations. “The purpose is to better respond to the Chinese market,” Tao said. “The team remains stable and strong.” The current personnel changes started at the beginning of the year, Tao said, declining to provide additional details. The Economic Observer said Tesla’s local sales department would cut half of its workforce, the most among all its departments, including marketing, public relations and administrative offices.
E-COMMERCE
China targets counterfeits
The Chinese regulator that accused Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) of peddling fake goods is seeking tighter e-commerce rules to curb the proliferation of counterfeits. Greater oversight is needed to protect consumers and create a fairer business environment on the Web, Chinese Minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) Zhang Mao (張茅) said. The spread of knock-off products posed a greater challenge online than in traditional retail, he added. Zhang’s remarks came less than two months after the SAIC issued a white paper accusing Alibaba’s online malls of accepting bribes and selling fake goods. The report was part of a wave of regulatory actions targeting major companies operating in China. The Chinese government projects that e-commerce transactions could reach 18 trillion yuan (US$2.9 trillion) this year — an 80 percent increase from 2013.
STOCKS
EU merger veto upheld
Deutsche Boerse AG lost an EU court challenge against the veto by EU regulators of its merger with NYSE Euronext, which would have created the world’s biggest exchange. The European Commission did not make any errors of law, the EU General Court in Luxembourg ruled yesterday. The commission, the EU regulator in Brussels, in February 2012 blocked the US$9.5 billion deal it said would have created a “near-monopoly” in European exchange-traded derivatives. The commission later cleared Intercontinental Exchange Inc’s bid for NYSE Euronext. Appealing a merger decision is a challenge to the commission’s legal reasoning and does not say anything about whether companies intend to resurrect a deal. The court’s decision can be appealed one last time.
TRADE
German surplus dips
Germany’s trade surplus narrowed in January as a drop in imports was outpaced by a decline in exports. The Federal Statistical Office yesterday said that exports fell by 2.1 percent in January to 96.3 billion euros (US$104.8 billion) when adjusted for seasonal and calendar variance. Imports dropped by 0.3 percent to 76.6 billion euros. The trade surplus narrowed to 19.7 billion euros in January, from 21.6 billion euros in December last year. Germany has drawn criticism for relying too much on exports and not importing enough to boost other European economies. However, it barely has a trade surplus with the rest of the 19-nation eurozone, while it has a large surplus with nations outside the EU.
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