CRIME
Italians charge Chinese
Italian prosecutors in Florence have formally asked for Bank of China’s Milan branch and 297 individuals, mostly Chinese living in Italy, to be tried for smuggling money and other crimes. The document stems from an investigation called “River of Money” that started in 2008 and points to the growing influence of Chinese criminal groups in the Tuscany region. The investigating prosecutors allege various crimes, including money laundering and tax evasion, according to the document. Investigators said money sent to China through agencies of the Money2Money (M2M) transfer service in several cities included proceeds from crimes such as counterfeiting, embezzlement, exploitation of illegal labor and tax evasion. According to the document, more than 4.5 billion euros (US$5.1 billion) was smuggled to China between 2006 and 2010 using M2M. It said 2.2 billion euros of that had been sent via the Bank of China’s Milan branch.
TELECOMS
Paris warns on takeover bid
The French government yesterday warned Franco-Israeli media magnate Patrick Drahi against a 10 billion euro takeover of rival mobile phone operator Bouygues Telecom. Le Journal du Dimanche weekly reported that Drahi, who already owns second-biggest telecoms operator Numericable-SFR, had offered more than 10 billion euros for Bouygues Telecom, the No. 3 in the sector. “The negotiations are continuing this weekend with Martin Bouygues, the group’s CEO, demanding an improved offer [by Drahi], to 11 billion euros,” the paper reported, citing unnamed sources. Paris is not keen to see less competition in the mobile phone sector, where a busy playing field has kept prices low for consumers. “Now is not the time for opportunistic tie-ups which may be of interest to some people but which are not in the public interest,” French Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment Emmanuel Macron said.
INVESTMENT
Bain plans Ibstock IPO
US private-equity firm Bain Capital is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Group AG on the potential initial public offering (IPO) of UK brickmaker Ibstock, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Ibstock, which Bain agreed to acquire from Irish construction group CRH Plc in December last year, may seek a valuation of more than £1 billion (US$1.6 billion) in an IPO, said the people, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Rothschild is also working on the potential share sale, which may take place later this year in London, they said. A Bain Capital representative declined to comment. Ibstock is the UK’s biggest brickmaker with 20 factories across the country, according to its Web site.
GERMANY
Bickering over energy policy
Lower Saxony on Saturday risked stoking tensions with Bavaria over energy policy by urging companies in the southern state to move north to secure stable power supplies. Bavaria has sparked frustration in Lower Saxony by opposing power lines planned to carry electricity from the north to the industrial heartland in the south. In a light-hearted, half-page advertisement in Bavaria’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Lower Saxony Economy Minister Olaf Lies said power-hungry companies such as Siemens and BMW should just relocate. “If the electricity won’t come to you, simply come to the electricity. Move your company direct to the source of power: to the state with energy, to Lower Saxony,” he wrote.
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],”