JAPAN
Economy in the doldrums
The nation reported lackluster inflation and wages data for last month that suggest its economic recovery remains in the doldrums. The government yesterday said that core inflation was 2 percent last month, down from 2.2 percent in January. Excluding the impact of an April last year sales tax increase, inflation was flat. However, household spending fell 2.9 percent from a year earlier last month, while base wages slipped 1.9 percent, the 13th straight monthly decline. Sluggish wage growth has hurt consumers’ purchasing power. In a positive sign, unemployment fell to 3.5 percent last month from 3.6 percent in January.
ARGENTINA
Goods to be subsidized
President Cristina Fernandez announced a series of plans to subsidize consumer goods as the government looks to stimulate the economy ahead of presidential elections in October. The government plans to spend 3 billion Argentine pesos (US$341 million) to subsidize bottled gas for 2.5 million users, offer fixed rates for new taxis, provide 25 percent discounts on energy-efficient household appliances with up to 12 monthly installments and expand the use of a transport card with 8 million users to provide discounts at shops, Fernandez said.
INTERNET
Yahoo plans stock buyback
Yahoo Inc on Thursday told US regulators that it plans to spend another US$2 billion buying back shares, as the Internet search firm continues an effort to reinvent itself. The new share repurchase program is to expire at the end of March 2018, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. About US$726 million remained in a US$5 billion buyback program authorized in late 2013 and Yahoo expects to spend the remaining money by the end of next year, the filing said.
INTERNET
Google reveals Porat pay
New Google CFO Ruth Porat is being paid more than US$70 million for defecting from the same job at investment bank Morgan Stanley. The lucrative pay package disclosed in a Thursday regulatory filing underscored how much Google prized Porat, who is due to start her new job on May 26. Morgan Stanley paid Porat a US$1 million salary in 2013 as part of a US$10.1 million pay package.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Synergy mulling sale
Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc, a US developer of drugs for gastrointestinal disorders, is talking to advisers about a potential sale of the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Synergy has US$200 million in debt. The New York-based company’s most advanced experimental drug is plecanatide, which is used to treat irritable bowel syndrome. A sale of Synergy is likely to hinge on the results of a late-stage trial of the drug, which might be announced in May, the people said.
AUTOMAKERS
Peugeot to expand plant
PSA Peugeot Citroen yesterday said it had chosen a French factory over a rival Spanish plant to expand engine production. The troubled automaker said it would upgrade the Tremery site to produce the turbo version of a staple three-cylinder engine already manufactured there, safeguarding local jobs. The eastern French plant beat out Peugeot’s factory in Vigo, Spain, for the additional quota of 200,000 engines per year.
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],”