MINING
Strike could last two months
Striking workers at the world’s top copper mine, BHP Billiton Ltd’s Escondida in Chile, on Friday said they were prepared to hold out for two months in their bid for higher salaries. Workers went on strike on Thursday at Escondida, which supplies 5 percent of global copper output — 1 million tonnes a year — and a long strike could cause shortages. The workers say they have a war chest of US$389,000 to sustain the strike. BHP Billiton, an Anglo-Australian mining giant, has rejected workers’ demands for a 7 percent raise and bonuses of 25 million Chilean pesos (US$39,087). It is offering bonuses of 8 million pesos, with no raise.
INSURANCE
AIG executives admit fraud
Two former executives at US insurance giant American International Group Inc (AIG) on Friday admitted to approving fraudulent transactions which masked the company’s financial health, ending a 12-year court battle in New York. Former chief executive officer Maurice Greenberg and Howard Smith, the company’s former chief financial officer, admitted to overseeing the transactions, which were designed to hide losses and inflate reserves, the New York State Attorney General’s Office said. Greenberg agreed to pay US$9 million, representing much of the bonuses he received between 2001 and 2004. The settlement brought an end to a legal saga initiated in the pre-financial crisis era by then-New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer in 2005.
UNITED STATES
Children used in robbery
A babysitter accused of using two children in her care to rob a Colorado bank has pleaded guilty to theft, forgery and attempted robbery. The Greeley Tribune reported Rachel Einspahr was sentenced to six years in prison after entering her plea on Friday. Einspahr was charged with robbing a bank in the town of Severance in May last year. Authorities said she had two sisters in her car when she went to a drive-up lane and passed a note to a teller saying an armed man was in the back seat threatening the children and demanding money. One child later told police there was no gunman.
MANUFACTURING
Saab seek deal in India
Swedish defence giant Saab AB has offered to build a state-of-the-art fighter jet factory in India should it seal a lucrative deal to supply hundreds of military jets to New Delhi. Saab and its US competitor Lockheed Martin Corp have emerged as the frontrunners to supply about 250 single-engine combat planes to India’s air force which wants to revamp its Soviet-era military hardware. The Saab proposal would see “the world’s most modern” military aircraft factory roll out the Gripen E fighter not just for India, but the global market.
THEME PARKS
Disney raises ticket prices
Walt Disney Co raised ticket prices at most of its domestic theme parks between 2 percent and 5 percent, more modest increases than last year when the company introduced higher prices for the most popular days. The cost of a regular ticket to Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park in Orlando, Florida, will rise from US$110 to US$115. The US$124 peak price at Magic Kingdom, which includes many summer days and holidays, is unchanged. Magic Kingdom is the world’s most attended theme park.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six