TELECOMS
Verizon to cut 2,100 jobs
Verizon Communications Inc plans to cut about 2,100 jobs after completing its US$4.48 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc’s Internet business and combining it with AOL Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firings will mostly be duplicated positions — engineering jobs are less likely to be affected, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The cuts, which amount to about 15 percent of the combined workforce, will begin soon after the merger is completed, which could be as early as next week, the person said. Yahoo shareholders approved the deal on Thursday, clearing the last major hurdle for the sale.
CHINA
Factory prices miss forecast
Prices for goods at the factory gate last month missed expectations, the government said yesterday, in a possible sign of weakening demand for the world’s second-largest economy. The producer price index rose 5.5 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), slightly lower than economists’ expectation of a 5.6 percent increase in a Bloomberg News survey and down from a 6.4 percent gain in April. Consumer price index rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in the month, up from a 1.2 percent increase in April, the NBS said.
FRANCE
Economy to grow on trade
The economy is set to grow slightly more than expected through 2019 thanks to stronger international trade, but is at risk of breaking its public deficit commitments, the central bank said yesterday. Growth should pick up from an estimated 1.4 percent this year to 1.6 percent in both next year and 2019, the Bank of France said in its biannual economic outlook. That was up from estimates in December last year for growth of 1.3 percent this year, 1.4 percent next year and 1.5 percent in 2019. While improving international trade would support activity, consumer spending would offer less support than in recent years as wage gains lagged behind higher inflation, the central bank said.
CYPRUS
IMF praises progress
The IMF on Thursday praised the nation for making progress since it exited a bailout regime, but called on it to reduce bad loans and to press ahead with reforms. In an assessment issued 15 months since the exit, the IMF board said the country’s banking system was recovering while employment and economic output were growing. However, it added that “these achievements have not yet resulted in significant reductions in the high levels of private-sector debt, non-performing loans.” The IMF board also urged the government to push on with its privatization program which has stalled.
GERMANY
Central bank raises forecast
The central bank yesterday raised its growth forecasts through to 2019, on the back of strong private and public consumption. GDP is now expected to expand by 1.9 percent this year, up from 1.8 percent previously forecast. Likewise, growth next year would reach 1.7 percent instead of 1.6 percent, while that of 2019 will hit 1.6 percent rather than 1.5 percent, the bank said. Meanwhile, the Bundesbank forecast that consumer prices would rise by 1.5 percent this year rather than the earlier forecasted 1.4 percent, but said inflation would come in at 1.4 percent next year rather than 1.7 percent, and at 1.8 percent in 2019 instead of 1.9 percent.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”