INTERNET
Baidu opens internal probe
Chinese search engine giant Baidu (百度) yesterday said it has launched anti-corruption investigations into its own employees after reports three department heads were being probed. Baidu did not reveal any details of its inquiries, nor confirm how many were being investigated or their names. “Internal anti-corruption action creates a just and transparent working environment, and a sound environment for workers’ development,” the company said in a statement to reporters. Chinese Internet portal Sina (新浪) yesterday reported that Baidu was investigating three departmental directors. Baidu fired five executives in November last year for bribery and illicit appropriation and dismissed four of its employees for bribery in August 2012, according to media reports.
MINING
Baosteel project delayed
A Chinese-led A$7.4 billion (US$5.8 billion) iron ore project in Western Australia looks to be the latest casualty of the price decline, with Wood Mackenzie Ltd estimating it is unlikely to begin output before 2020. “Mindful of the volatility in the iron ore market,” the partners in the Baosteel Group Corp-led West Pilbara iron ore mine, port and rail development, have deferred until late next year a decision on whether to proceed, Aurizon Holdings Ltd —one of the participants — said yesterday in a statement. A decision had previously been planned for early next year, Aurizon said. To deliver the initial capacity of 40 million tonnes a year the project requires the construction of 280km of heavy rail and a port facility at Anketell Point, Aurizon and Baosteel said on June 20 last year, when Chinese benchmark iron ore was trading at US$92.13 a tonne. It traded at US$61.40 a ton on Friday last week. “You are looking at a minimum of four years to do all of that, and that’s the best case scenario,” Sydney-based Wood Mackenzie analyst Andrew Hodge said by telephone. Under that timetable, the project would not begin production before 2020, Hodge said. Baosteel and Aurizon previously said first shipments were expected in 2017 or 2018.
ELECTRONICS
Toshiba’s value plunges
Toshiba Corp yesterday lost US$2.8 billion in market value after the Japanese industrial and electronics group withdrew its earnings forecast pending an internal probe into improper accounting on infrastructure projects. Its shares fell 17 percent, the biggest drop since March 2011, to ¥403.3 in Tokyo. The company announced it was extending an accounting probe and withdrawing its earnings forecast for last fiscal year Friday last week, after trading had closed. Toshiba also said it may have to revise earnings from fiscal year 2013 and earlier. The company had projected net income of ¥120 billion (US$1 billion) on sales of ¥6.7 trillion in the year ended March.
INVESTMENT
Chinese futures top trade
Chinese stock index futures have surpassed S&P 500 futures in turnover to become the world’s most traded equity futures as global investors expanded their exposure to the market. Turnover in the CSI300 futures contract expiring on Friday has soared in recent weeks, in step with surging shares in China. Daily volumes rose to 1.5 million contracts on Friday last week, according to Thomson Reuters data, exceeding the 1.4 million “e-mini” S&P 500 contracts traded on that day. Analysts predict the CSI 300 looks set to overtake futures contracts in other asset classes such as US Treasuries, the most heavily traded futures contract in the world for any asset type.
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],”