ECONOMICS
Mexico moves to boost peso
Mexico’s central bank on Wednesday said that it plans to sell US$52 million per day over the next three months to stop the peso from sliding further after the currency reached historic lows. The daily auction comes on top of a mechanism in which the bank sells US$200 million on days that the peso drops by 1.5 percent from the previous day’s closing price. The Mexican currency was worth 15.90 pesos against the US dollar on Tuesday. The peso has depreciated by 4.8 percent since the start of the year, Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray said. However, it has strengthened against the euro, the Canadian dollar and the Brazilian real.
LABOR
Australia jobless rate drops
Australia’s unemployment rate eased to 6.3 percent last month as fewer people looked for jobs, data showed yesterday, but economists warned the labor market remained soft, maintaining expectations of another interest rate cut. The unemployment rate fell from 6.4 percent in January, a more-than 12-year high, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics — in line with analysts’ forecasts. About 15,600 jobs were added to the economy, with full-time positions increasing by 10,300 and part-time roles up by 5,300.
ECONOMICS
France still mired in inflation
The French economy remained stuck in deflation last month, according to official figures published yesterday, with consumer rices down 0.3 percent last month compared to the same period last year. This followed a 0.4-percent decline in annualized prices in January, the first time in five years that the economy had slipped into deflation, according to the national statistics office. However, inflation in Germany was back in positive territory last month with consumer prices rising by 0.1 percent, official data released by federal statistics office Destatis yesterday showed.
AVIATION
United Tech mulls spinoff
United Technologies Corp on Wednesday said that it is weighing options for its Sikorsky Aircraft division, including a possible spinoff of the maker of Black Hawk and other military and commercial helicopters. The Hartford, Connecticut, company said it has not set a timetable for any action regarding Sikorsky and that there is no guarantee it will spin off the unit. Sikorsky accounted for about US$7.5 billion of United Technologies’ total sales of US$65 billion last year. The conglomerate’s other divisions include jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and Otis elevator.
AVIATION
Lufthansa predicts profit rise
Deutsche Lufthansa AG yesterday said it expects to see a “tangible” improvement in its underlying earnings this year after profits nosedived last year. The carrier said it expects earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to amount to “over 1.5 billion euros” (US$1.59 billion) this year, “a substantial improvement on the 2014 group operating result.” EBIT last year amounted to 1.2 billion euros.
AUTOMAKERS
Alibaba, SAIC to team up
SAIC Motor Corp Ltd (上海汽車) yesterday said that it would join e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) in investing 1 billion yuan (US$159.66 million) in a fund to develop Internet-connected cars. SAIC Motor did not provide details about the size of each party’s investment. Alibaba declined to provide immediate comment.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six