FRANCE
Economy slid 0.1% in Q2
The French economy slowed 0.1 percent in the second quarter after growing 0.7 percent in the previous three months, a revised estimate by the INSEE national statistics agency showed yesterday. It is the first time the eurozone’s No. 2 economy has contracted since the first quarter of 2013. The statistics agency had previously said economic growth was flat in the April-to-June period. The slowdown was driven by a sharp decline in inventories, INSEE said, which shaved 0.7 points off national output, while trade added 0.6 points. Household spending declined 0.1 percent.
LODGING
Airbnb valued at US$30bn
Home-sharing giant Airbnb Inc just raised US$555 million and is seeking even more in a funding round that values the company at US$30 billion, a source close to the company said. The San Francisco-based start-up has taken in US$555.46 million through a private funding round that was launched in late July and remained open, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The funding round could reach US$850 million, the source said. Money taken was expected to be used to fuel growth and international expansion of Airbnb.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple buys Tuplejump for AI
Apple Inc has acquired Indian machine-learning start-up Tuplejump Software Pvt Ltd, as it seeks to expand its expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). The iPhone maker bought the Hyderabad, India-based company in June, according to a person familiar with the deal who asked not to be identified. Tuplejump’s software specializes in processing and analyzing big sets of data quickly. The deal was reported earlier by TechCrunch. The purchase price was not disclosed. The Tuplejump deal is Apple’s third acquisition in the industry this year. Tuplejump has about a dozen employees, many of whom were already based on the US west coast, the person said.
BANKING
CaixaBank raises US$1.5bn
CaixaBank SA, Spain’s third-largest lender, on Thursday sold shares for 1.3 billion euros (US$1.5 billion) to fund its takeover of Portugal’s Banco BPI SA. The company sold 585 million shares, the equivalent of a 9.9 percent stake, to private investors, CaixaBank said in a statement. Shares were sold at 2.26 euros each, a 3.7 percent discount to their closing price. CaixaBank agreed to pay about 900 million euros to buy the 55 percent of BPI it does not already own. The bank increased its offer to 1.134 euros a share from 1.113 euros on Wednesday after BPI shareholders agreed to scrap voting rights limits, a key condition for the bid and one that made the offer mandatory.
TECHNOLOGY
BlackBerry nets Radar client
BlackBerry Ltd has found a customer for its fleet-tracking device, taking a first step into the crowded market for monitoring cargo trucks and trains. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company is to install 500 units of the BlackBerry Radar on trailers owned by Oakville, Ontario-based trucker Caravan Group. The Radar is a box that sticks on the back of a tractor-trailer container and frequently updates its owner on the trailer’s temperature, location and whether the door is open or closed. A spokeswoman for BlackBerry declined to say what the deal was worth.
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