ROBOTICS
Softbank eyeing Makeblock
SoftBank Group Corp is in talks to invest in Makeblock Co (創客工場), a Chinese maker of DIY robotics, people familiar with the matter said. Makeblock is seeking to raise about US$60 million in a series C round by the end of this year as it targets a doubling of its valuation to US$400 million, the people said on condition of anonymity. The figures are preliminary and could vary depending on negotiations, they said. Softbank and Makeblock declined to comment. Makeblock is competing with a coterie of Chinese start-ups who all want a slice of a learning industry that focuses on science, technology, engineering and maths, which could become a US$15 billion market by 2020, Beijing-based consultancy JMD Education (芥末堆) said.
TAXATION
Google wins French suit
A Paris administrative court on Wednesday annulled a 1.1 billion euro (US$1.27 billion) tax adjustment imposed on Google by French tax authorities, saying that the way the California firm operates in France allows it to be exempt from most taxes. Tax authorities had argued that Google was required to pay taxes in France for 2005 to 2010, because the US company and its Irish subsidiary sold a service for inserting online ads to clients in France through its Google search engine. However, the court ruled that Google Ireland Ltd does not have a “permanent establishment” in France via the French company Google France, another subsidiary of California-based Google Inc. The court added that Google France does not have the human resources or the technical means to allow it to carry out the contentious advertising services on its own. The French government can appeal the decision.
RETAIL
Sports Direct adds interests
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International PLC has bought a 26 percent stake in Game Digital PLC, adding the seller of Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation consoles to a growing roster of retail investments. Shares of Game Digital, based in Basingstoke, England, rose as much as 16 percent early yesterday, a day after a block purchase lifted them 23 percent. Sports Direct is now Game Digital’s second-largest shareholder after the latter’s former private equity owner, Elliott Advisors.
SWEDEN
Inflation exceeds predictions
Inflation was faster than estimated last month, lending support to the central bank’s call earlier this month to drop its so-called easing bias. Headline consumer prices rose an annual 1.7 percent last month, unchanged from May, Statistics Sweden said yesterday. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated 1.6 percent. Underlying prices also rose a faster-than-expected 1.9 percent. The reports support the central bank’s move earlier this month to raise its forecast for rates, eliminating the chance of a cut in the near term. Both headline and underlying consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in the month. Price increases were driven by costs for package holidays, international flights and banking services, the agency said.
AUTOMAKERS
PSA’s China sales plummet
French auto giant Peugeot Citroen (PSA) yesterday said its China sales plummeted nearly 50 percent in the first half of the year, but global revenues were slightly higher following a resumption of production in Iran. Its sales in China fell 48.6 percent, while those in Europe, its main market, edged down 1.9 percent.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by