MEDIA
LVMH eyes ‘Le Parisien’
French luxury goods group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) on Tuesday said it was in exclusive negotiations with the Amaury Group to buy French daily newspaper Le Parisien as its looks to expand its media business, which already includes financial daily Les Echos. LVMH said the acquisition was subject to consideration by the Amaury union and conditional upon approval by government competition authorities. Without citing its sources, Le Figaro daily said LVMH had offered 50 million euros (US$54.6 million) for Le Parisien and its national edition, Aujourd’hui en France. The objective would be to complete the deal by October.
GERMANY
Confidence hits 13-year high
Consumer confidence is at its highest in 13.5 years, as the positive economic outlook and low inflation persuade consumers to spend, a poll found yesterday. “Very strong domestic demand in Germany and the low rate of inflation are fueling economic expectations and consumers’ willingness to spend,” market research company GfK Group SE said in a statement. In contrast, income expectations have slipped slightly from their previous record high, the statement said.
UNITED STATES
Durable goods orders slip
Orders for durable goods fell 0.5 percent last month, reversing March’s strong surge, mainly on the back of falling aircraft orders, the Department of Commerce reported on Tuesday. However, with volatile transport orders stripped out, orders picked up 0.5 percent last month, the second straight gain after the winter’s chill on the economy. Overall orders for durable goods were estimated at US$235.5 billion for the month, down slightly less than US$1.2 billion from March.
SOUTH AFRICA
GDP growth slows to 1.3%
GDP expansion slowed to a disappointing 1.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, official data showed on Tuesday, as rolling power cuts dampened manufacturing output. The figure announced by Statistics South Africa was sharply below growth of 4.1 percent in the last quarter of last year, as the nation struggles with an electricity crisis and high unemployment. The manufacturing industry fell by 2.4 percent, while agriculture has been badly hit by a severe drought.
MINING
Zijin to expand global reach
Zijin Mining Group Co (紫金礦業) is to spend US$710 million buying into mines in Papua New Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) as China’s most valuable gold producer extends its reach across the globe. Zijin is to buy a 50 percent stake in Barrick Gold Corp’s Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea for US$298 million, a statement said. Separately, the company agreed to acquire 49.5 percent of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd’s Kamoa copper project in the DR Congo for US$412 million. Ivanhoe shares jumped by as much as 17 percent.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai leads with Android
Hyundai Group is the first automaker to offer Google’s Android Auto system. Starting on Tuesday, Android smartphone users with a 2015 Sonata can ask dealers to download the system for free. Drivers must have a Sonata with navigation — part of an optional technology package. Android Auto is to soon be available on other Hyundais. Hyundai says it expects to offer Apple’s version of the system, CarPlay, sometime soon.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to