CHINA
Food prices boost inflation
Inflation accelerated to 2.3 percent last month, driven by a jump in food prices, but stayed below the government’s official target for the year. The consumer price rise reported yesterday was up from January’s 1.8 percent. Food prices surged 7.3 percent, up from the previous month’s gain of 4.1 percent. Inflation is forecast to edge higher this year, though analysts say it is unlikely to reach levels that would hamper plans by Chinese leaders to boost government spending to shore up slowing economic growth. Meanwhile, producer prices, which have fallen for more than three years, dropped 4.9 percent last month from the previous year, a slight improvement over the previous month’s decline of 5.3 percent.
GERMANY
Falling exports dent surplus
The nation’s trade surplus contracted slightly in January, dragged down by falling exports, official data showed yesterday. Exports declined by 0.5 percent to 98.2 billion euros (US$108 billion) in seasonally adjusted terms in January, the federal statistics office said. At the same time, imports — a measure of domestic demand — increased by 1.2 percent to 79.4 billion euros. That meant that the trade surplus shrank slightly to 18.8 billion euros in January from 20.3 billion euros in December last year, the office said. On a 12-month basis, exports fell by 1.4 percent in January, while imports grew by 1.5 percent.
VENEZUELA
New FX controls unveiled
The nation announced a new system of foreign-exchange (FX) controls on Wednesday, including a 1,400 percent increase in the rate that citizens traveling abroad have to pay for US dollars. In an effort to shore up its foreign cash supply, the socialist government announced that US dollars for travelers — previously available at the rate of 13.5 bolivars — would be sold at a fluctuating rate, to be set initially at 206.92 bolivars to the US dollar. The official value of the bolivar is 10 to the US dollar, but the black-market rate is more than 1,000 to the US dollar.
INDIA
Oil and gas sector targeted
The government announced steps to attract investment in the nation’s oil and gas sector yesterday to help meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of cutting import dependence. The Cabinet approved measures, including giving pricing freedom to explorers for natural gas extracted from deep-sea fields, a government statement said. Modi has made energy security a priority for the nation, which imports most of its oil and gas. The initiatives might attract companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell PLC that have stayed away from the nation’s exploration-block auctions since they began in 1999.
RETAILERS
Carrefour posts higher profit
Carrefour SA, France’s largest retailer, reported an increase in full-year profit as a revival in Europe helped drive the fourth straight year of revenue growth. Recurring operating income rose 2.4 percent to 2.45 billion euros, Boulogne-Billancourt-based Carrefour said yesterday. Adjusting for exchange rates and excluding some items, such as the integration of the DIA discount stores Carrefour bought back in France, earnings rose 12 percent. Rival Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA on Wednesday reported a 35 percent drop in profit, hurt by price cuts in France.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks