AUTOMAKERS
Faraday unveils prototype
The mystery electric car start-up Faraday Future, which seeks to “redefine mobility,” unveiled its first prototype vehicle on Monday while offering few details on its ownership and structure. The company took the wraps off its Batmobile-style vehicle, which is part of a plan to compete against the likes of Tesla Motors Inc and reshape the auto sector. “We are embarking on a complete rethink of what mobility is,” Faraday senior vice president of research and engineering Nick Sampson said as he unveiled the “FFZERO1” prototype car on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Sampson said Faraday intends to move “very fast” on its plans and has already announced a US$1 billion factory to be built near Las Vegas.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai China sales drop
Hyundai Motor Co posted its first annual sales drop in China since 2007 as a slowing economy and shift in consumer preferences to cheap sport utility vehicles (SUV) hurt demand for its sedan-heavy lineup. Deliveries fell 5.1 percent to 1.06 million vehicles last year, the company said in a statement. Toyota Motor Corp surpassed the South Korean automaker in China, after boosting sales by 8.7 percent to 1.12 million units. Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-koo this week said that he expects demand in China, the company’s largest market by volume, to stay weak as economic growth remains sluggish this year. The company plans to introduce a hybrid version of the Sonata sedan this year. SUV sales have led gains this year at the expense of traditional sedans.
AEROSPACE
Japan files to join WTO case
Japan has applied to observe WTO proceedings against China that the US initiated over alleged tax discrimination on imported airplanes, joining Canada and the EU in asking to participate as an interested third party. Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd are among major suppliers to Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. The measures identified in the US complaint, lodged on Dec. 10 last year, could adversely affect parts from Japan used in airplanes destined for China, Japan said in a request it filed on Monday. The US alleges China imposes a 17 percent value-added tax on imported small and medium-sized airplanes, while exempting similar aircraft made in China.
SOFTWARE
Windows 10 deploys rapidly
Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 10 operating system is running on more than 200 million devices, putting the software on course for the fastest growth trajectory of any previous version as the company faces increasing competition from Apple Inc and Google. The software upgrade, which was released in July last year, is outpacing Windows 8 by almost 400 percent, according to a post on the Windows blog by Microsoft corporate vice president of Windows and Devices Group Yusuf Mehdi. This inches the company closer to its goal of having 1 billion devices running Windows 10 in 2018. The success of Windows 10 is key to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s strategy of building an ecosystem of gadgets and cloud-based software and services that work together — similar to the way that Apple’s and Google’s do. Microsoft is also counting on Windows to help restore growth to one of the company’s flagship businesses, as revenue from the PC operating system has fallen 19 percent in the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained