AUTOMAKERS
Ford to sell in US dollars
Ford Motor Co is to sell some of its cars in Venezuela in US dollars to alleviate a shortage of greenbacks that has slashed its imports and paralyzed its plant, according to a labor union official. “Car sales will be in [US] dollars,” Ford Motors de Venezuela union head Gilberto Troya said by telephone from Valencia, Venezuela. He said the company informed the union of the deal with the government on April 28. “This could lead to a complete dollarization of the sector.” Under the deal, customers are to give dealerships US dollars, which will be used to import car parts to be assembled at the Valencia plant, Troya said. Customers could still buy some of the cheaper models, such as the Fiesta, in bolivars, he said.
TECHNOLOGY
Uber valuation to rise
Uber Technologies Inc plans to raise US$1.5 billion in a new funding round that is to boost the car-booking startup’s valuation to US$50 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Uber, which was previously valued at US$40 billion when it raised financing earlier this year, is benefiting from investors who view its car-booking technology as the future of transport. The San Francisco-based company might also need funding for acquisitions, following a report by the New York Times this week that it submitted a bid for HERE, Nokia Oyj’s maps business, for as much as US$3 billion.
RETAIL
Wal-Mart eyes new locations
Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Friday said it would spend about C$350 million (US$290 million) to buy and renovate 13 former Target Canada Co locations and a distribution center. Wal-Mart is to pay about C$165 million for the warehouse and stores, and plans to hire about 3,400 new employees across Canada, it said in a statement. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said the investment is in addition to the C$340 million it is spending on 29 big-box stores in Canada, announced in February. US retailer Target Corp is liquidating its Canadian operations after racking up billions in losses after less than two years in the nation.
INTERNET
Google adds food feature
Google Inc on Friday added a feature that lets people in the US order food directly from mobile searches for local restaurants. “Whether you’re craving deep dish pizza or pad thai, starting today you can order food from some of your favorite restaurants directly from Google search results,” the California-based firm said in a post on its Google+ social network page. Search queries for nearby restaurants are to be served up with an option to “place an order.”
BANKING
Burkinabe bank head arrested
The head of one of Burkina Faso’s largest banks has been arrested on suspicion of having embezzled billions of CFA francs, a source close to the investigation said on Friday. “The director general of the Banque de l’Habitat du Burkina Faso, Pierre Zerbo, was arrested yesterday and remanded in custody [on Friday],” the security source said. Zerbo is still being interrogated over allegations he embezzled “several billion CFA francs,” added the source, although seven executives who also faced questioning have now been released.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by