SEMICONDUCTORS
North America ratio drops
The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers fell to 1.03 last month from 1.05 in July, statistics released by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) showed on Friday. A ratio of 1.03 means that US$103 worth of orders were received for every US$100 of products billed in the month. It was the ninth consecutive month that the ratio stood at or above 1 percent, indicating strong demand will continue in the short term, SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said in a statement.
RUSSIA
Central bank cuts rate
The central bank on Friday cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 10 percent, but warned it could not provide another quick jolt to jump-start stalled economic growth. The Bank of Russia said in a statement that the cut was possible thanks to a “decrease in inflation expectations and unstable economic activity.” However, the central bank made clear it intends to hold off on another cut until early next year at the earliest.
AUTOMAKERS
Fiat Chrysler recalls vehicles
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is recalling more than 1.9 million vehicles worldwide because their air bags might not deploy in a crash. The recall affects certain Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Lancia vehicles from the 2010 to 2014 model years. Most are in the US, but 224,860 were sold in Canada and Mexico and 284,051 were sold outside North America. Fiat Chrysler says an air bag and seatbelt control module with a certain wiring design might not deploy the air bags or tighten the seatbelts if the vehicle is involved in a frontal crash.
DISTRIBUTION
John Menzies to buy ASIG
UK airport services and logistics group John Menzies PLC agreed to buy peer BBA Aviation PLC’s ground handling and fueling operations in a deal worth US$202 million, taking a major step in consolidating a fragmented industry. The deal for ASIG would make Menzies the world’s largest interplane fueler, doubling its existing North American operations and adding significant scale at major international gateways, including London’s Heathrow Airport.
TRADE
WTO rules against India
The WTO has ruled against India and delivered a victory to US companies that make solar batteries and equipment. Rejecting India’s appeal of a February ruling, the Geneva-based trade group on Friday said that India violated world trade rules by requiring solar-power companies use made-in-India equipment when they sell electricity to the government. US solar exports to India dropped 90 percent after the country adopted the rules in 2011.
ECONOMY
Hungary out of ‘junk status’
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s says it has lifted Hungary’s sovereign debt rating out of “junk status” after upgrading the country’s growth projections. S&P raised Hungary’s rating by one notch to “BBB-” as it increased the country’s average annual growth forecast through 2019 to 2.5 percent from 2 percent. Fitch Ratings Ltd in May made a similar move, while Moody’s still has Hungarian debt in the non-investment category.
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],”
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
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