MANUFACTURING
Revenues down 1.7 percent
The revenues of manufacturing companies listed on the local bourse totaled NT$23 trillion (US$711 billion) last year, down 1.7 percent from the previous year, Ministry of Economic Affairs data released on Friday showed. It was the first time in six years that revenues slid on a year-on-year basis, the ministry said, attributing the weakness to the global economic slowdown, drops in crude oil and steel prices and stiffer competition in the world market. The listed manufacturers’ net profits totaled NT$1.2 trillion last year, with an average net profit margin of 5.2 percent, data showed.
ARGENTINA
IMF checks to resume
The country is to resume annual fiscal checkups with the IMF this year after a 10-year hiatus, an IMF official said on Friday. The move marks a repairing of relations that soured in the wake of the country’s default on US$100 billion in debt in 2001. The IMF is to restart its Article IV missions, in which it assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the economies of each member country every year.
SPAIN
Government plans cuts
Minister of Finance Cristobal Montoro on Friday said the government would cut spending by 2 billion euros (US$2.3 billion) after the government overshot its public deficit target last year. However, Montoro said the cuts did not “affect social spending or spending on items linked to security.” The country’s public deficit stood at 5 percent of GDP last year, far higher than the target of 4.2 percent set by the conservative government.
FINANCE
Citigroup profit falls 27%
Citigroup Inc’s profit fell nearly 27 percent in the first quarter, hurt by weak results at its consumer bank and trading business. However, the company’s earnings still beat Wall Street expectations. The New York-based financial conglomerate reported net income of US$3.5 billion, or US$1.10 per share, in the three months ending last month, compared with US$4.77 billion, or US$1.51 per share, the year before. The results beat analysts’ US$1.03 per share forecast. Revenue in the quarter fell 11 percent to US$17.56 billion, beating the US$17.44 billion that analysts expected.
AUTOMAKERS
Volkswagen sales fall
German automaker Volkswagen AG saw sales fall in its home market, as it struggles to overcome a scandal over cars that cheated on diesel emissions tests. Sales figures out on Friday for the Volkswagen brand fell 8.2 percent in Germany to 53,400 vehicles. That was part of a worldwide drop of 2.7 percent. However, sales in China rose by 3.6 percent to 245,400. They were up 9 percent in central and Eastern Europe at 18,900.
INTERNET
Twitter names China head
Twitter Inc introduced a new head of operations on Friday for what it calls Greater China — despite still being banned in China — as it attempts to boost already booming advertising. Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey sent a tweet from his @jack account welcoming former Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems Inc general manager Kathy Chen (陳葵) as managing director of Twitter’s Greater China operations.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San