JAPAN
Core consumer prices fall
Core consumer prices fell for a second straight month last month, dealing another blow to Tokyo’s faltering war on deflation, data showed yesterday. The slightly better-than-expected reading of minus-0.3 percent last month offered fresh evidence of the challenges faced by the government and the Bank of Japan. The figure was slightly better than a Bloomberg forecast of a 0.4 percent drop. Data released earlier this month showed Japan’s January-to-March GDP expanded 0.4 percent.
UNITED KINGDOM
Consumer confidence up
A gauge of UK consumer confidence rose for the first time since January, but remained below zero as the upcoming referendum on EU membership weighed on sentiment. It rose to minus-1 this month from minus-3 last month, GfK said yesterday. A measure of the economic outlook increased from the weakest reading in almost three years, rising to minus-13 from minus-14. The figures follow official data on Thursday that showed consumers stayed resilient in the first quarter, with household spending rising at the fastest pace in almost a year.
AUTOMAKERS
More air bag recalls
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism yesterday said that automakers would recall about 7 million more cars equipped with Takata Corp air bag inflators without a drying agent by March 2019, bringing the total recalled in the nation to 19.6 million cars. Japan’s latest announcement might further ramp up Takata’s potential recall costs if the air bag maker is found to be responsible for the defective inflators. The ministry said the latest recall covers mainly passenger-side air bags and is to be conducted in phases.
AUTOMAKERS
GM China to recall cars
General Motors Co’s (GM) main Chinese joint venture is recalling 2.2 million cars to deal with insufficient corrosion resistance on crankcase valves. The recall was ordered after the joint venture between GM and state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (上海汽車) received complaints about engine damage, the country’s product quality regulator said. The recall applies to Buick Excelle sedans and Chevrolet Cruzes, Epicas and Aveos. The product quality agency said GM would replace affected valves for free.
GAMING
PS4 sales hit 40m
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on Thursday that PlayStation 4 (PS4) sales hit 40 million units, as they were snapped up at a record-setting pace. Rival Microsoft Corp has not released recent Xbox One sales figures, which were reported to be just shy of 19 million units as of the end of last year. Both consoles were launched in November 2013. PS4 has seen the fastest and strongest adoption since the first generation of the console was introduced in late 1994.
INSURANCE
AXA sees loss in UK sale
AXA SA said the sale of its UK life and savings businesses would generate a loss of 400 million euros (US$447 million). The French insurer yesterday said that it agreed to sell its UK investment, pensions and direct protection businesses to Phoenix Group Holdings, a transaction that it expects to complete in the second half of this year. The sale of AXA’s offshore investment bonds unit based in the Isle of Man was announced on April 28 and the sale of its Elevate division was announced on May 4.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts