JAPAN
Fuel prices curb inflation
Core inflation, excluding volatile fresh food prices, edged up 0.1 percent last month from the previous year, official data showed yesterday, while excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.6 percent — both well short of the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target. Lower fuel prices and other energy costs helped curb inflation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications data said. Meanwhile, the ministry said household spending fell 2 percent in June against market expectations for another rise after a 4.8 percent increase in May. The May figure was the first monthly rise since Japan increased sales taxes in April last year to help pay down its huge national debt.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda posts higher profit
Honda Motor Co yesterday reported a 20 percent jump in fiscal first-quarter profit on the back of a cheap yen that offset the damage from a massive air bag recall. April-to-June net profit totaled ¥186 billion (US$1.5 billion), up from ¥155.6 billion in the same period the previous year, the company said. Quarterly sales gained nearly 16 percent to ¥3.7 trillion. Honda left its forecasts unchanged, projecting a ¥525 billion profit for the fiscal year through March next year. That would mark a 3 percent year-on-year rise. It expects to sell 4.7 million vehicles around the world for the fiscal year, up from nearly 4.4 million vehicles in the previous fiscal year.
ELECTRONICS
Sharp Corp losses widen
Sharp Corp said yesterday its net loss widened in the three months to June, as the embattled electronics firm struggles through a restructuring, and weak sales of its display panels and smartphones. Osaka-based Sharp reported a ¥33.98 billion shortfall, well up from ¥1.79 billion in the same period the previous year. The company kept a target of ¥80 billion in operating profit on sales of ¥2.8 trillion for the fiscal year through March next year. It did not give a net profit target, citing uncertain restructuring costs.
RETAILERS
Carrefour posts higher profit
Carrefour SA, France’s largest retailer, reported higher first-half profit as revenue strengthened in Europe, with sales in its home market rising for the third consecutive year. First-half recurring operating income rose 1.3 percent to 726 million euros (US$795 million), Boulogne-Billancourt-based Carrefour said yesterday in a statement. The grocer left its guidance unchanged. It said this month that a 2.51 billion euros to 2.53 billion euros consensus range for full-year recurring operating income was reasonable.
AVIATION
US dollar boosts Airbus
Plane maker Airbus Group SE said yesterday its net profit rose 5 percent in the second quarter to 732 million euros. Profits were dented by a 290 million euros charge related to the May 9 crash of an A400M transport plane in Spain that killed four crew members. Revenue rose 16 percent in the second quarter to 16.81 billion euros, boosted by the stronger US dollar. Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said the company was on track to achieve its earnings forecast for the year amid healthy demand for commercial aircraft. He said the company was focusing on stepping up production of the A400M and its A350 wide-body passenger jet. Airbus shares rose 3.8 percent to 64.80 euros in morning trading in Europe.
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