GERMANY
Consumer confidence falls
A closely watched survey indicates consumers’ worries about the economy are deepening. The GfK research group said yesterday that its forward-looking consumer climate index dropped to 9.6 points for next month from 9.9 points this month. It says the three indicators that provide the index number — willingness to buy, income expectations and economic expectations — all fell. The survey of about 2,000 consumers was conducted before the news broke that Volkswagen, the world’s top-selling automaker, had manipulated emissions tests in the US, raising the likelihood the index might suffer a further drop next month.
INTERNET
Instagram users pass 400m
Instagram has rocketed past 400 million users, with more than 80 million pictures shared daily at the Facebook-owned service. The number of people sharing pictures and videos each month using Instagram soared from 300 million at the start of the year and tops the number of people using Twitter monthly by nearly 100 million. More than half of the last 100 million people to join Instagram live in Europe or Asia, with Brazil, Japan and Indonesia seeing the strongest growth, the company said.
INTERNET
Facebook debuts 360? video
Facebook Inc on Wednesday began rolling out 360? viewing at the leading social network, letting people change their perspectives in specially created videos. Synched rings cameras are used to capture video in a way that lets viewers virtually look around as if they are in the middle of a scene. In desktop computer browsers, changing angles can be done using on-screen cursors, while on mobile devices shifting perspectives can be done by dragging fingers or just turning handsets. Publishers sharing 360? video at launch included GoPro, Discovery and Saturday Night Live, the company said. Disney and Lucasfilm are to debut a 360? video focused on its upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Facebook said.
NORWAY
Central bank cuts rates
The central bank cut interest rates to an all-time low and said it might ease policy further as it seeks to rescue an expansion in western Europe’s biggest petroleum producer amid a plunge in crude oil prices. The overnight deposit rate was lowered by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent, the Oslo-based central bank said yesterday. The move was forecast by seven of the 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, with the remainder expecting no change. The bank forecast its rate could fall as low as 0.59 percent in third quarter of next year.
RAILWAYS
Chinese firm wins India bid
A consortium led by a state-owned Chinese firm has won a bid for a feasibility study into a high-speed rail link between India’s political and financial capitals, New Delhi and Mumbai, the company’s parent said, in what could lead to a major deal between the Asian rivals. China Railway (中國鐵路), a spinoff from the former railways ministry, said the line would be about 1,200km long, but provided few other details. The company on Wednesday said the consortium, which also includes Indian companies, won the bid to carry out the study. India has also solicited bids for feasibility studies on lines between Mumbai and the southern city of Chennai, as well as New Delhi and Calcutta, the company added.
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],”