UNITED STATES
Fed backs hikes prediction
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said policymakers’ forecasts predicting four interest-rate increases this year were “in the ballpark,” though China’s slowing economy and other sources of uncertainty make it difficult to predict the path of policy. “The reason we meet eight times a year is because things happen, and as they happen you want to adjust your policy,” Fischer said on Wednesday in an interview on CNBC. His remarks came three weeks after the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. Federal Open Market Committee members’ median estimate put the benchmark federal funds rate at the end of the year at 1.4 percent.
AGRICULTURE
Monsanto to cut more jobs
Monsanto Co on Wednesday said it would eliminate another 1,000 jobs as it expands a cost-cutting plan designed to deal with falling sales of biotech-corn seeds and other financial headwinds. The additional layoffs would bring the agriculture giant’s total planned cuts to 3,600 jobs over the next two years, or about 16 percent of its global workforce. In October last year, the company first announced the restructuring plan, intended to streamline its sales, research and development and other operations. The St Louis, Missouri-based company said the restructuring will cost between US$1.1 billion and US$1.2 billion to implement, an increase from previous estimates of US$850 million to US$900 million.
INDIA
Ministry mulls bank sale
The Ministry of Finance is considering a plan to sell part or all of its stake in Axis Bank Ltd, valued at US$1.7 billion, to bolster its efforts to narrow the nation’s fiscal deficit, people familiar with the matter said. The government might pare the 11.59 percent stake it holds in Axis Bank through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India as it seeks to meet an asset sale target of 695 billion rupees (US$10.4 billion) for the year ending March 31, the people said, asking not to be identified as a final decision had not been taken. Ministry spokesman D.S. Malik could not be reached for comment.
AVIATION
BOC orders A320s
Singapore-based aircraft leasing firm BOC Aviation Ptd Ltd (中銀航空租賃) yesterday said it has ordered 30 Airbus A320s worth more than US$3 billion at list prices to meet growing demand. The order, made at the end of last month, comprises 18 A320s equipped with new engines and 12 A320s using the current engines, the company said in a statement. At last year’s catalogue prices, each re-engined A320 costs US$106.2 million and a standard A320 is worth US$97 million, according to the Airbus Web site.
TECHNOLOGY
Microchip mulling offer
Microchip Technology Inc is reconsidering its interest in Atmel Corp after Atmel’s business struggled in the fourth quarter, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Atmel, based in San Jose, California, received an unsolicited offer from an unnamed buyer last month, according to a statement at the time. That suitor was Microchip and it is rethinking its current US$9-a-share offer, which values Atmel at about US$3.8 billion, the person said. Microchip had not made a final decision, and the offer might still go ahead as planned, they said.
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],”