STOCK MARKETS
Dow rallies past 19,000
The Dow on Tuesday finished above 19,000 for the first time, a landmark in a post-election stock rally propelled by expectations of pro-growth policies from Washington. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 percent to 19,023.87. The S&P 500 also hit a new record, rising 0.2 percent to 2,202.94, while the tech-rich NASDAQ Composite Index jumped 0.3 percent to 5,386.35, also a new record. Markets are betting that Washington will pursue growth-oriented policies including tax cuts, a ramp-up of infrastructure investment and fewer regulations.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota recalls Sienna
Toyota Motor Corp is recalling 834,000 Toyota Sienna minivans in North America, because the sliding doors could open while the vehicle is moving. The recall involves Sienna minivans from the 2011 to 2016 model years. A majority of the minivans — 744,000 — were sold in the US. Toyota said the problem happens when the door’s opening is impeded and the motor’s circuit gets overloaded. If the door is unlatched, it could open while the minivan is in motion. Toyota will repair the doors for free, but is still developing a remedy for the problem.
BEVERAGES
Dr Pepper buys Bai Brands
Soda giant Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc has agreed to purchase fast-growing Bai Brands for US$1.7 billion. Bai Brands was started in a Princeton, New Jersey, basement in 2009 and specializes in coffee-fruit drinks. The drink maker’s all-natural, 5-calorie drinks are produced from coffee fruit — the antioxidant-rich outer shell of coffee beans. Dr Pepper Snapple officials said the acquisition would help the company expand into the low-calorie beverage market. Bai Brands is to operate within Dr Pepper Snapple’s packaged beverages segment.
SOFTWARE
Meitu in talks on share sale
China’s Meitu Inc (美圖), a developer of selfie apps, is in talks with investors ahead of its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong and is discussing a share sale that would value the company at about US$5 billion, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. However, investors are split in their view of that value, with Chinese funds willing to pay up for what they see as the next big growth opportunity and international investors more skeptical about the company’s potential, the people said. Valuation is to be a key area of discussion as Meitu and its investment bankers talk with potential investors from this week through Friday next week, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg.
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