AVIATION
AA snubs Argentine peso
American Airlines (AA) on Wednesday said that it has stopped taking Argentine pesos as payment for tickets because of limits on its ability to convert the money into US dollars. Airline spokeswoman Martha Thomas said American would try to resolve the issue with the new government of Argentine president elect Mauricio Macri. American is continuing to operate 27 flights per week between the US and Buenos Aires, more than any other airline, Thomas said. However, customers in Argentina must use foreign credit cards or US dollars to buy tickets.
REAL ESTATE
US new home sales pick up
Sales of new homes in the US recovered last month after suffering a steep drop in September, returning to this year’s trend of an improving market for real estate developers and builders. The US Department of Commerce on Wednesday said that new home sales climbed 10.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 495,000. The rebound followed a 12.9 percent plunge in the sales rate during September.
GAMING
PS4 sales hit 30 million
Sony Computer Entertainment on Wednesday announced that about 30.2 million PlayStation4 (PS4) consoles were sold worldwide as of Sunday. “We are sincerely grateful that gamers across the globe have continued to choose PS4 as the best place to play since launch two years ago,” global chief executive Andrew House said in a release. Microsoft Corp has not released recent Xbox One console sales figures, which have been estimated at about half of rival PS4.
BANKING
Lloyds to cut 1,000 jobs
Lloyds Banking Group PLC was reportedly planning to announce plans yesterday to eliminate 1,000 jobs across operations, including staff at its branch network, as part of broader cost cuts announced last year, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The cuts are part of a plan to pare about 9,000 jobs, close branches and save £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) by 2017, the person said. Some of the employees are to be offered new jobs within the company, the person said.
BANKING
Deutsche Bank to cut jobs
Deutsche Bank AG plans to eliminate jobs at its German power-trading business as co-chief executive officer John Cryan seeks to cut costs across Europe’s largest investment bank, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Three client-facing positions and about 10 roles in the back office might be eliminated, the person said on Wednesday. The bank’s management has told labor representatives that it plans to cut 40 jobs at its German investment banking and trading unit, the person said.
ENERGY
PetroChina to sell stakes
PetroChina Co (中石油) on Wednesday announced plans to sell pipeline stakes for as much as 15.5 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) as the nation’s biggest oil and gas producer seeks to meet year-end profit targets amid a drive to reform state-owned enterprises. Beijing-based PetroChina’s board approved a plan to sell a 50 percent stake in Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Co (中石油中亞管道) to a unit of state-owned China Reform Holdings Corp (中國國新控股), according to a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange. The company also announced a new chief financial officer and moved to inject new assets into its gas subsidiary Kunlun Energy Co (昆侖能源).
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],”