TECHNOLOGY
Apple plans Shenzhen R&D
Apple Inc plans to set up a research and development center (R&D) in Shenzhen, China, the US tech giant said yesterday, as it looks to spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy amid growing competition. The Shenzhen hub follows a similar plan for a center in Beijing and comes as Apple is looking to bounce back in China. Apple chief executive Tim Cook announced the plan during a meeting with senior officials from the southern Chinese city where he is attending a nationwide innovation event, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
TECHNOLOGY
Ericsson misses profit target
Ericsson AB yesterday said that third-quarter earnings missed its expectations after sales plunged amid waning demand for wireless-network equipment. Revenue dropped 14 percent to 51.1 billion kronor (US$5.8 billion) and gross margin narrowed to 28 percent, it said in a statement. Operating profit dropped to 300 million kronor. “Our result is significantly lower than we expected, with a particularly weak end of the quarter, and deviates from what we previously have communicated regarding market development,” CEO Jan Frykhammar said in the release. “The negative industry trends have further accelerated affecting primarily Segment Networks.”
TECHNOLOGY
YouTube buys FameBit
Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday said it had bought FameBit, a marketplace where video makers can connect with brands interested in sponsoring their creations. YouTube did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy FameBit, which it described as a technology platform that helps creators and brands make matches leading to sponsorships or paid promotions. Southern California-based FameBit will continue as a standalone operation for now, cofounders David Kierzkowski and Agnes Kozera said in a message posted on its Web site.
FOOD
Domino’s to add UK stores
Britain’s Domino’s Pizza Group PLC yesterday said that it expected to open more stores this year than previously thought as it posted a rise in underlying sales in the region. Britain’s biggest pizza delivery firm also raised its UK store opening expectation to 80 from 70 for this year, after the like-for-like sales for the third quarter from June 27 to Sept. 25 in its core UK business was up 3.9 percent, the company said. The group, which operates more than 920 stores, said a surge in online orders boosted its third-quarter sales. The company, which also operates in Ireland, Switzerland and Germany, posted a 7.6 percent growth in underlying sales in Ireland and 16.7 percent jump in total Swiss sales.
TRADE
Singapore lax on illicit trade
Singapore — with its flourishing trade, orderly life and almost non-existent crime — is hardly a place one would associate with illegal trade, but a new report by a reputed organization reveals that the city-state has a poor record of preventing just that. The Economist Intelligence Unit yesterday released a 100-point index that placed Singapore at seven out of 17 Asian countries for its ability to prevent illicit trade. The index evaluated countries against 14 indicators, including transparency, intellectual property and customs. Singapore scored 69.8 points to tie with Taiwan. Still, it is behind neighbor Malaysia (71.8), often seen as a country with a far less-efficient government. The top performers were Australia (85.2), New Zealand (81.8) and Hong Kong (81.4).
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
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