TAXES
Cameron to vow to raise tax
UK Prime Minister David Cameron is to pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold for couples to £1 million (US$1.5 million) as he seeks to break the opinion poll deadlock between his Conservatives and the Labour Party. Labour on Saturday promised to crack down on tax evasion and avoidance with plans for stricter rules and steeper fines, building on a promise earlier this week to tighten rules on non-domiciled taxpayers. The measures, which include closing a “loophole used by hedge funds” to avoid a transaction tax known as stamp duty, would aim to raise £7.5 billion per year, the party said.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota to build China plant
Toyota Motor Corp is planning to build a new plant in northern China as the world’s top automaker ramps up investment after a two-year freeze, reports said on Saturday. Proposals for the plant in Tianjin — due to open in 2018 at the earliest with a capacity of 100,000 cars per year — should be finalized by the summer, Jiji Press and Kyodo news agency reported. At the new plant, Toyota is likely to produce fuel-efficient passenger vehicles under a local brand through a joint venture with a Chinese firm, the reports said. The vehicles would meet stricter environmental regulations in China, where air pollution is a serious social problem.
BANKING
Monte exposure tops cap
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA said its exposure to Nomura Holdings Inc exceeds the 25 percent limit on total capital imposed by regulators after losses last year reduced capital levels. Monte Paschi’s exposure to Nomura was about 35 percent of its regulatory capital base at the end of last year, Italy’s third-biggest bank said in a statement on Friday. The Siena-based lender has 9.9 billion euros (US$10.5 billion) of capital, according to its annual report for last year, implying a financial exposure to the Japanese lender of about 3.5 billion euros. “The bank is reviewing all possible options to reduce the exposure within limits,” it said in the statement, following a request by market regulator Consob.
EMPLOYMENT
Zimbabwe union on strike
About 200 people from Zimbabwe’s main trade union on Saturday marched to government offices in Harare to demand that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe fix the ailing economy and fulfill an election promise to create over 2 million jobs. Workers belonging to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) also protested against proposed salary and job cuts for civil servants. The union held similar demonstrations in five cities across the country. The country’s finance ministry in November last year projected economic growth of 3.2 percent this year, up from 3.1 percent last year.
TELECOMS
Sprint to pay for wiretaps
Sprint Communications Inc has agreed to pay US$15.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the telephone carrier overcharged the US government to collect and deliver information gathered under court-ordered wiretaps. The settlement announced late on Thursday revolves around a dispute about how Sprint billed the US FBI, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and several other federal agencies for wiretapping expenses. The government alleged that Sprint had included items that did not qualify for reimbursement under US Federal Communications Commission regulations.
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