JAPAN
Inflation outlook holds firm
Companies’ outlook for inflation in the world’s third-biggest economy is holding up even as consumer price gains slow because of cheaper oil and a sluggish recovery. Firms forecast price gains of 1.4 percent one year ahead on average, the same pace as they projected in December last year, the Bank of Japan said yesterday. They see inflation of 1.6 percent in three years and 1.6 percent in five years. The bank’s main gauge of consumer prices, which strips out fresh food and the effects of last year’s sales-tax increase, showed inflation grinding to a halt in February.
SOUTH KOREA
Current account narrows
The nation’s current-
account surplus narrowed for the third month in a row in February, but remained at a handsome US$6.44 billion, bolstered by low oil prices and weak domestic demand, central bank data showed yesterday. The current account — the broadest measure of foreign trade in goods and services — has now been in the black for three years. The February surplus was slightly down from a revised US$6.58 billion a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.
MANUFACTURING
Expansion slows in US
Factories in the US expanded last month at the slowest pace since May 2013, a sign that struggling overseas economies and cutbacks among oil producers are hindering manufacturing. The US Institute for Supply Management’s index declined to 51.5 from 52.9 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s report showed on Wednesday. Readings above 50 indicate growth and the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 52.5.
ENTERTAINMENT
Playtech to buy trading firm
Gambling technology company Playtech PLC said it would buy a majority stake in TradeFX Ltd for 208 million euros (US$224.4 million) in cash to enter the trading platform and payment services market. Playtech is to buy a 91.1 percent fully diluted stake in TradeFX with an earn out payment of up to 250 million euros based on future performance. The deal is expected to close next month and would immediately add to its earnings, Playtech said yesterday.
INTERNET
GoDaddy shares surge
GoDaddy Inc shares surged in their Wall Street debut on Wednesday, raising about US$460 million. The stock trading under the symbol GDDY jumped nearly 31 percent to close at US$26.15, following the initial public offering at US$20 a share. At the current price, GoDaddy’s market value is roughly US$4 billion. The company claims to be the world’s largest Internet registrar, hosting about 59 million domain names. It also manages and provides tools for the Web sites of about 13 million customers.
INTERNET
Google decision expected
EU antitrust regulators probing Google Inc might make a decision on what to do with the case within months, according to a UK judge who has seen confidential EU letters linked to a London lawsuit. Judge Peter Roth delayed until July next year the start of a civil lawsuit against Google to give the EU more time to conduct its probe. Roth said the EU has not decided whether to seek a new settlement that would allow it to close its Google probe without imposing fines.
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],”