PHILIPPINES
Investment laws targeted
The Philippines plans to amend its Constitution next year to help ease restrictions on foreign investment, Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez said. Dominguez informed Japanese investors in a recent forum in Tokyo that the government is also reviewing its so-called Foreign Investment Negative List to increase foreign ownership limits in the areas of construction and other sectors, the Department of Finance said in a statement. The review, which Dominguez described as the first step, started in May. The second step “is through the amendment of the Constitution, and the president has called for a revision of our constitution, which we believe will start probably next year or in about 12 months,” Dominguez said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Bain to take flash unit public
Bain Capital’s consortium is planning to take Toshiba Corp’s flash-memory unit public within two to three years after closing its ¥2 trillion (US$18 billion) acquisition of the business, people familiar with the matters said. The precise timing of the initial public offering (IPO) will depend on the unit’s finances and market conditions, and could change substantially, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The Bain group also plans to institute a stock option program at the memory business so that employees will have an opportunity to profit in any IPO, they said. On Thursday, Toshiba signed a final agreement to sell the business to a group led by Bain, while Toshiba itself will maintain a stake.
TECHNOLOGY
Most of EU supports tax plan
There is a groundswell of support in the EU to make sure that digital US giants pay more taxes on their lucrative business in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday. He said he already counted 19 of 28 nations in support of plans for continent-wide fiscal rules on taxing major Internet companies. Ireland disagreed with the proposal and said many Nordic countries had joined it in opposition. The plan for a tax system that should hit US tech companies harder will be coming up at EU ministerial meetings later this fall.
AEROSPACE
SpiceJet orders more Q400s
Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet has ordered up to 50 Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft — the largest single order ever for this plane, the Canadian aerospace company said on Friday. The US$1.7 billion deal for 25 aircraft and options on 25 more would bring the total firm orders for the Q400 to 600, Bombardier said in a statement. SpiceJet is the first carrier to opt for the high-density 90-passenger model of this plane, adding them to its current fleet of 20 78-seat Q400 aircraft.
REAL ESTATE
UrWork to open in Manhattan
Chinese co-working company UrWork (優客工場) plans to open its first location in Manhattan early next year, but its name will likely not be on the door. WeWork Cos, the New York-based start-up, sued UrWork last month, arguing that the Chinese company’s name infringes on its trademarks. As part of the case, a judge on Friday ruled that Serendipity Labs, a co-working company that is partnering with UrWork to open the new location, cannot use UrWork’s name anywhere outside of China on places such as its Web site, office or promotional materials.
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],”