AUTOMAKERS
US probes Nissan recall
US regulators are looking into whether a recall last year by Nissan Motor Co, Japan’s second-largest automaker, failed to fix a flaw in the air-bag control systems on almost 1 million vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a query on Wednesday last week, citing 124 complaints filed by motorists after the recall began in April last year, according to a notice posted on the regulator’s Web site. Some drivers alleged the flaw persists after multiple repairs by dealers. Nissan recalled 989,701 vehicles last year, saying the software may incorrectly classify the passenger seat as empty when it is occupied by an adult. This may lead to a failure of the air bag to deploy during a crash and could increase the risk of injury to the passenger, according to a filing with the regulator by the Yokohama, Japan-based carmaker.
TRANSPORT
India paper invests in Uber
Uber Technologies Inc said the publisher of India’s most-read English newspaper has taken a small stake in the ride-hailing application company as part of a strategic partnership to support its expansion. The deal with Times Internet Ltd will help increase the marketing and distribution of Uber’s services to more than 200 million consumers in India, the US company said in a statement on its blog, without giving details of the investment. Times Internet is a fully owned unit of Bennett, Coleman & Co, the flagship company of the Times of India Group and publisher of the newspaper. Uber counts India as its biggest market outside the US and the fastest growing globally. Baidu Inc (百度), China’s largest Internet search engine, in December agreed to invest in Uber.
TELECOMS
Micromax seeks investors
Micromax Informatics Ltd., the Indian smartphone maker threatening Samsung Electronics Co’s lead in the world’s second-largest market, plans to raise more capital to help it break away from foreign rivals. The closely held company is considering outside investment to develop locally focused software to complement mobile phones already available in 21 local languages, CEO Vineet Taneja said. Micromax expects to hit US$2 billion in sales in the fiscal year that ends this month, Taneja said, up from US$1.2 billion last year. “It will be critical to differentiate ourselves through something beyond the hardware,” Taneja said in an interview at the company’s New Delhi headquarters. “The Internet services space does require money because it requires investment, new capabilities and strategic partnerships.” Micromax became one of India’s top two smartphone vendors by offering affordable devices tailored to a market where carriers typically do not subsidize phones and dozens of languages are spoken.
SECURITIES
China to ease foreign rules
China is considering sweeping changes to its securities industry that would allow foreign banks to control their local joint ventures and broaden their offerings, people with knowledge of the matter said. Overseas firms could be allowed to own majority stakes in local ventures as soon as this year, and they may ultimately be able to take full control, the people said. Regulators also plan to give foreign-owned joint ventures permission to expand into areas beyond stock and bond underwriting, they said, asking not to be named as the deliberations are private. Easing restrictions that currently limit overseas banks to 49 percent ownership will let them more effectively compete with incumbents such as Citic Securities Co (中信證券).
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last