GERMANY
CETA opponents overruled
The nation’s highest court has rejected calls from opponents of a EU-Canada trade deal for an injunction that had the potential to spell an end to the pact. The Federal Constitutional Court yesterday ruled against the complaints against the trade deal with Canada, known as CETA. Tens of thousands of citizens joined in two of those complaints. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who is also minister of the economy, had warned putting off CETA’s signing could effectively torpedo the accord.
UNITED KINGDOM
London home building slows
Sales of London homes under construction dropped 14 percent in the third quarter as uncertainty surrounding the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU hurt demand already dented by higher taxes. The number of residences sold before completion in the period fell to 4,830 units from 5,636 a year earlier, according to a report by researcher Molior London seen by Bloomberg News. A spokesman for Molior declined to comment.
SHIPPING
Court to outline Hanjin sale
A South Korean court plans to publish a notice in local newspapers as early as today, detailing its plan to sell the marketing network of Hanjin Shipping Co’s Asia-US operations as part of efforts to raise funds for the indebted company. The Seoul Central District Court’s notice will provide information including the bidding schedule and deadline for submission, a court spokesman said yesterday. The court expects to sign an agreement on the sale by the middle of next month, he said.
MANUFACTURING
B&D to buy Newell tools
Stanley Black & Decker (B&D) Inc on Wednesday agreed to buy Newell Brands Inc’s tools business for US$1.95 billion in cash, helping the workshop giant push deeper into consumer and industrial equipment. Stanley will gain the Irwin, Lenox and Hilmor brands as part of the transaction, which is expected to add US$0.15 to earnings within a year of its completion. The division generated US$760 million in revenue over the past 12 months, according to Newell. It makes everything from industrial saw blades to screwdrivers.
RETAIL
Uniqlo recovery predicted
Fast Retailing Co yesterday forecast full-year operating profit will improve 37 percent as the owner of the Uniqlo casual-wear chain recovers from a slump in the last fiscal year by committing to lower prices to win back customers. Operating income is likely to be ¥175 billion (US$1.7 billion) in the fiscal year ending August next year, compared with ¥127.3 billion in the previous period, the Yamaguchi, Japan-based company said in a statement. That is in line with the ¥174.9 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
AVIATION
Cathay shares dive
Shares in Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) yesterday plunged more than 5 percent after it scrapped its profit outlook for the second half of the year, citing competition and overcapacity. The Hong Kong-based firm said it no longer expected business to improve in the latter half of the year — a departure from its previous forecast. Net profit for the first six months of the year stood at HK$353 million (US$45.5 million). Shares in the company were trading as low as HK$10.16 per share, down 5.58 percent from Wednesday’s close.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to