LOGISTICS
Amazon to build freight hub
Online retail colossus Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday said it would strengthen its distribution muscle and create US jobs by building its first air freight hub, an investment of nearly US$1.5 billion. A hub for the company’s growing fleet of Prime Air cargo airplanes is to be built at an airport in northern Kentucky, adding more than 2,000 workers to the approximately 10,000 people it already employs at fulfillment centers in that state. Seattle-based Amazon did not specify the amount of the investment, but the local economic development organization placed the figure at US$1.49 billion. The spot for the hub was chosen for reasons that included being a centralized location for moving goods, Amazon senior vice president of worldwide operations Dave Clark said.
INDUSTRY
Siemens earnings surge
German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG on Tuesday said that full-year earnings would surpass previous estimates, after reporting a 25 percent jump in quarterly net profit. The company said the stronger earnings in the three months to Dec. 31 reflected healthier operating margins in most of its business lines. Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser has been pursuing a far-reaching restructuring of the company, whose activities range from gas and wind turbines to trains and medical equipment. It raised its forecast for full-year earnings per share to between 7.20 euros and 7.70 euros (US$7.77 and US$8.31), compared with its previous goal of between 6.80 euros and 7.20 euros. However, the company still expects economic headwinds, including unfavorable foreign-exchange rates and limited economic growth and investment because of a “complex geopolitical environment.”
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney to settle hiring suit
Walt Disney Co agreed to pay US$100 million to resolve claims it colluded with other animation studios to not hire one another’s workers in California, where allegations of “no-poaching” pacts have plagued technology companies for the better part of a decade. Disney and three of its units are the last remaining defendants in a class-action lawsuit alleging the studios conspired to suppress wages through a “gentleman’s agreement” to not recruit each other’s workers. Attorneys for Disney and employees on Tuesday submitted a court filing seeking approval for their settlement. Comcast Corp’s DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc previously agreed to a US$50 million settlement, while two Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc units and Blue Sky Studios Inc reached deals totaling US$19 million.
NEW ZEALAND
Unemployment rate rises
The jobless rate unexpectedly rose from an eight-year low in the final quarter of last year as more people sought work than could find jobs, while the currency fell US$0.50. The jobless rate rose from 4.9 percent to 5.2 percent; economists’ median estimate was a drop to 4.8 percent. Employment increased 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter; economists expected a 0.7 percent gain. While the jobless rate rose, employment grew more than economists expected, adding to signs of a tightening labor market that could help Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler’s efforts to lift inflation back to the middle of his 1 to 3 percent target band. At the same time, employers are able to fill positions without big wage increases because of record numbers of immigrants seeking work.
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
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
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)