UNITED STATES
Manufacturing sector grows
The key manufacturing sector last month continued to grow at an above-average rate, as the effects of back-to-back hurricanes over the summer receded, according to an industry survey released on Friday. Output spiked and employment remains strong to produce “a really strong report” on the sector, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said. The ISM’s purchasing managers’ index slowed to 58.2 percent from 58.7 in October. Any reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector.
INVESTMENT
Funds wary of megacap tech
The hedge-fund love affair with megacap tech might still be raging, but it looks like actively managed mutual funds have grown less fond of the group. “Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google [FAAMG] were five of the six stocks with the largest declines in fund positioning last quarter,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc said in a note. All told, large-cap mutual funds reduced exposure to the so-called FAAMG cohort, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs as of Sept. 30, but information technology shares at large still make up most of their holdings.
ANGOLA
Government mulls stake sale
The country plans to sell a minority stake in a state-owned telecommunications provider and hold an auction for a fourth industry operator. The government of the oil-rich west African country has received several expressions of interest from local and foreign investors in the new telecommunications license, state-owned news agency Angop said on Friday, citing Minister of Telecommunications Jose Carvalho da Rocha.
EUROPEAN UNION
Ukraine assistance withheld
The bloc on Friday said it is withholding 600 million euros (US$713.84 million) in financial assistance to Ukraine because it has not made enough progress on a wide-ranging program of reforms demanded by the bloc. The bloc has already paid out 1.2 billion euros in low-interest loans to Ukraine since 2015. However, the money is conditional on Kiev implementing reforms aimed at tackling rampant corruption, modernizing the economy and strengthening democratic structures.
TECHNOLOGY
Two Uber executives quit
Two of Uber Technologies Inc’s most senior remaining security executives on Friday resigned and another took medical leave after chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi criticized past practices, a source familiar with the situation said. Uber last week said it fired chief security officer Joe Sullivan over his role in last year’s data breach.
TECHNOLOGY
Alibaba talking to SenseTime
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) is in discussions to invest about 1.5 billion yuan (US$227 million) and become the largest backer of Chinese facial recognition start-up SenseTime Group Ltd (商湯科技), a person familiar with the matter said. Alibaba is keen on owning a sizable stake, but has no interest in exerting control over the artificial intelligence start-up, the person said. SenseTime, which says it is valued at more than US$2 billion, is incorporated in Hong Kong, but operates mainly in China.
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],”