SOUTH KOREA
Growth outstrips estimates
The nation’s economy grew slightly more than previously thought in each of the past two years, authorities said yesterday. The central bank raised its figure for last year’s economic growth rate by 0.1 percentage points to 2.8 percent, saying the manufacturing sector performed better than earlier estimated. It also raised the 2015 figure from 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent, so last year’s rise in GDP was unchanged from the previous year. Decades of rapid growth saw the country rise from the ashes of the Korean War to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, but expansion has slowed more recently.
COMPUTERS
Musk launches Neuralink
Tesla Inc founder and CEO Elon Musk has launched a company called Neuralink Corp to develop technology through which computers could merge with human brains, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Neuralink is pursuing what Musk calls “neural lace” technology, implanting tiny brain electrodes that might one day upload and download thoughts, the Journal reported. Musk has not made an official announcement, but Neuralink was registered in California as a “medical research” company in July last year, and he plans on funding the company mostly by himself, a person briefed on the plans told the Journal. It is unclear what sorts of products Neuralink might create, but people who have had discussions with the company describe a strategy similar to Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp and Tesla, the Journal said.
NETWORKING
Ericsson books more costs
Ericsson AB is to book extra expenses of as much as 15 billion kronor (US$1.7 billion) in the first quarter as its business sputters, highlighting the challenges for new CEO Borje Ekholm as he tries to stabilize the Swedish wireless network maker. Earnings this quarter are to be cut by 7 billion to 9 billion kronor because of “recent negative developments related to certain large customer projects,” Ericsson said in a statement yesterday. Restructuring charges are to be about 2 billion kronor in the quarter as Ekholm accelerates cost reductions. The company is also to write down some assets, hurting operating income by 3 billion to 4 billion kronor, and plans to start exploring strategic opportunities for its media business. Ekholm has already slashed Ericsson’s dividend for the first time in eight years as he tries to reverse a sales plunge caused by fierce competition amid a slowdown in spending by wireless carriers.
INTEREST RATES
Two increases ‘right’: Evans
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said two interest rate increases might be the right amount of tightening for the US economy this year given uncertainty surrounding the outlook for inflation and government spending. “To the extent that I gain more confidence in the forecast I have, that would be a good indicator that I could perhaps support three,” Evans said on Monday in a Bloomberg Television interview from Madrid with Michael McKee. “Two might be the right number if there’s a little bit more uncertainty... I still think that one of the larger uncertainties is whether or not inflation is going to get up to 2 percent sustainably in the US, and so I don’t want to get out ahead of these rate increases, but I thought that it was perfectly acceptable to get one in in March.”
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last