EUROPEAN UNION
Wallonia rejects ultimatum
The head of Wallonia’s parliament yesterday said it would not respect an EU ultimatum to back a massive trade deal with Canada blocked by the Belgian region. “It won’t be possible to respect this ultimatum,” Walloon Parliament President Andre Antoine told RTL radio in Belgium, referring to a deadline yesterday set by European Council President Donald Tusk for the country to say whether it could support the pact. Belgium has so far been the only EU member not to sign up to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has been seven years in the making, because Wallonia has refused to endorse it. Antoine said it was important to get the deal right, as it could pave the way for future trade pacts with powers such as the US and China. “We must therefore have a solid legal basis,” he added. The pact would link the EU market of 500 million people with the world’s 10th-biggest economy.
JAPAN
Exports slide for 12th month
Exports last month fell for a 12th consecutive month, rounding out a rough year for manufacturers struggling with a stronger yen and soft global demand. However, the numbers were better than expected and export volumes last month rose by the most in nearly two years, prompting some upbeat assessments by economists. “Today’s report confirmed that exports are on the rebound,” said Masaki Kuwahara, senior economist at Nomura Securities Co. “Manufacturing activities are picking up globally, especially in Asian nations. That bodes well for Japanese exports.” Overseas shipments dropped 6.9 percent last month from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Imports fell 16.3 percent during the same period, resulting in a trade surplus of ¥498.3 billion (US$4.8 billion).
SEMICONDUCTORS
Aixtron approval withdrawn
The German government yesterday said it had withdrawn approval for a Chinese firm to acquire Aixtron, a supplier to the semiconductor industry, amid growing unease over Chinese investment in local companies. A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy confirmed that approval for the Aixtron deal had been withdrawn pending review, but declined to shed light on the reasons behind the move. Aixtron said earlier that the ministry had canceled the so-called “clearance certificate” it issued last month that paved the way for the 670 million euro (US$730 million) takeover by Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (中國福建芯片投資基金) to go ahead. The unexpected move comes at a time of concern over a string of Chinese takeovers which has prompted German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel to urge Brussels to shield key EU industries from foreign investors.
TECHNOLOGY
Philips sees net profit rise
Dutch electronics and healthcare giant Royal Philips NV said net profit rose 18 percent to 383 million euros in the third quarter from the same period last year as its healthcare technology portfolio recorded solid sales growth. The company, which is in the process of spinning off its lighting business, said that sales edged higher from 5.8 billion euros to 5.9 billion euros in the same period last year. Philips CEO Frans van Houten yesterday said the company expects further improvements in its earnings in the final three months of the year, but said that “going forward, we remain concerned about risk due to volatility in the markets in which we operate.”
ENERGY
Singapore picks suppliers
Singapore, which is vying to become a regional center for the trading of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia, has picked Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Pavilion Gas Pte Ltd as its next suppliers of the fuel. The companies will have exclusive rights to sell 1 million tonnes of LNG annually for up to three years, with imports beginning next year, the Energy Market Authority said in a statement. The city-state is also considering spot purchases of LNG and piped natural gas on a case-by-case basis, Singaporean Minister of Industry S. Iswaran said yesterday at the Singapore International Energy Week conference. Shell and Pavilion were chosen because they “offered flexible and competitive pricing not just indexed to oil, but to different options on the table,” Iswaran said. Singapore wants to use its geography and stature as Asia’s oil-trading center to also be a leader in LNG in a region that accounted for more than 70 percent of global demand last year. The state-owned investment company set up Pavilion Energy Pte in 2013 to trade the fuel. It has drawn firms from Glencore PLC and GAIL India Ltd to open trading desks in locally, and Singapore Exchange Ltd has started futures and swaps linked to an index of spot LNG prices.
EXHIBITIONS
Stamp collecting lauded
Chunghwa Post president S.J. Chen (陳憲着) encouraged people to develop an interest in collecting stamps yesterday during a visit to the PhilaTaipei World Stamp Championship Exhibition. “Collecting stamps is a common childhood memory and fantastic experience for many adults, and I hope more people in Taiwan will take to it and appreciate the beauty a small piece of paper can bring us,” Chen said as he awarded prizes to winners of a stamp-collecting classroom held last year. Four winners from elementary schools in Kaohsiung, Taichung, Penghu and Keelung were chosen from among 75 entries for their beautiful and diverse collections of stamps. Three others won excellence awards and four received honorable mentions. Chunghwa Post is hosting the fair to celebrate the 120th anniversary of its founding.
STOCKS
Asian equities climb
Asian stocks climbed as Shanghai equities rallied to a nine-month high and investors braced for a busy week of earnings across Japan, China and the US. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent to 140.27 as of 4:10pm in Hong Kong, set for a two-week high. The measure capped its best week in a month last week as data showed Chinese economic growth was stabilizing. More than 350 companies on Japan’s TOPIX are to give quarterly updates this week. In Hong Kong, reports include those from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd at the end of the week.
STOCKS
TAIEX closes 0.17% higher
Shares in Taiwan closed higher on Monday as the bellwether electronics sector trended higher, led by large-cap high-tech stocks such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). They helped the broader market offset selling in the old economy and financial sectors, dealers said. Despite the upturn, turnover remained thin as many investors remained on the sidelines, waiting for the release of more corporate results during the on-going earnings seasons at home and on Wall Street, they said. The weighted index ended the day up 15.93 points, or 0.17 percent, at 9,322.50, after moving between 9,308.53 and 9,343.57 on turnover of NT$56.76 billion (US$1.79 billion).
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
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
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