PHILIPPINES
Casino fee backed
The government’s tax research unit said that it supports pending bills in the nation’s Congress to charge entrance fees in casinos and tax lottery winnings because horse racing, another form of gambling, is taxed, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported yesterday on its Web site. The Department of Finance’s National Tax Research Center backs a 3,500 pesos (US$74) entrance fee for casinos, the newspaper said, citing the center’s “Profile and Taxation of Selected Gambling and Betting Activities in the Philippines.”
AVIATION
Cathay Pacific hit with fine
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd was fined almost 500,000 euros (US$547,000) for what a French court termed irregular pay practices concerning pilots operating European routes for the Hong Kong-based airline. The penalty was imposed after union complaints that crew stationed at Charles de Gaulle airport were not being recognized by Cathay as based in France.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Valeant CEO hospitalized
The chief executive of embattled Canadian pharmaceutical company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, J. Michael Pearson, has been admitted to hospital for “severe” pneumonia, a spokeswoman said on Friday. It has been a challenging few months for the Canadian drug maker, which has been the target of concerns over its pricing and distribution policies. Valeant has rejected all accusations that it has engaged in deceptive business practices.
UKRAINE
Budget deficit adopted
The nation’s parliament on Friday adopted a budget for next year with a deficit of 3 percent of GDP, crucial for unlocking much-needed aid from the IMF and Western countries. The budget was passed after an acrimonious all-night debate and was finally approved by 263 lawmakers, about 40 more than the minimum required number. This move is crucial in unlocking the release of a delayed US$1.7 billion loan from the IMF and other Western aid.
INVESTMENT
Singha eyes Vietnam market
Singha Asia Holding Pte Ltd is investing US$1.1 billion in Masan Group Corp’s consumer and brewery units to take advantage of Vietnam’s young and growing middle class, the companies said in a joint statement on Friday. Singha, a privately held unit of Thailand’s Boon Rawd Brewery, is to acquire 25 percent of Masan Consumer and 33.3 percent of Masan Brewery in a transaction comprised entirely of new capital that is expected to close in January, according to the statement.
AUTOMAKERS
Ferrari recalls cars in US
Ferrari North America Inc has recalled next year’s California T convertibles that it made over a two-month period this year because of the risk of fuel leaks. The California Ts might have a low-pressure fuel line that does not connect properly to the fuel-pump feed pipe, creating a fire risk, the US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday. The company has notified owners of the 185 luxury cars potentially affected and dealers are to replace the low-pressure fuel assembly at no cost, the advisory said.
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
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
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