REAL ESTATE
Berkshire adds German unit
Berkshire Hathaway’s real-estate brokerage is expanding overseas with a new franchisee in Germany. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices on Monday said it is adding Berlin-based Rubina Real Estate to its network. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal gives Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate another affiliate in Germany and helps raise the Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s profile in Europe. Gino Blefari, CEO of the real-estate network, says more international franchises are likely. Irvine, California-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices includes more than 45,000 agents and 1,400 offices in America. Rubina Real Estate focuses on helping international investors buy German property.
AGRICULTURE
Big data for raising shrimp
Cargill Inc plans to offer big data to boost shrimp production, expanding technology tools that bolster agriculture to aquaculture. Predictive software that relies on machine learning and sensors will help farmers analyze everything from the size of shrimp and feeding patterns to water quality and weather on devices, including phones and tablets, executives from the Minneapolis-based company said on Monday. Cargill, one of the world’s biggest agriculture companies, has been harnessing big data used across diverse industries and applying it to farming. In January, the company said it was backing an Irish start-up that uses facial recognition to help increase milk output from cows. Last year, it offered an application providing reams of data to make the animals more comfortable and productive.
STEEL
Execs, Trump to meet: Cohn
White House economic adviser Gary Cohn has orchestrated a meeting of executives from US aluminum and steel users with President Donald Trump as part of a last-ditch effort inside the administration to stop or blunt tariffs announced last week, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday night. The meeting was scheduled as Republicans in Congress are waging an extraordinary campaign to halt the move. Cohn and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are worried about repercussions, including a trade war that could harm the economy. Cohn planned the meeting for tomorrow, and it is to include representatives of breweries, beverage can manufacturers, the oil industry and automakers. Trump was scheduled to attend the meeting, said the two people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a policy disagreement.
BREXIT
EU cools on May’s proposal
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to sign companies up to EU regulators to maintain their access to markets after Brexit was cast into doubt as a senior EU official expressed reservations. May proposed that the UK could remain part of EU agencies that regulate the medicine, chemicals and aviation industries to keep close to the bloc after Brexit in areas where it suits the UK economy. Stefaan De Rynck, an adviser to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, late on Monday said that the plan raised potential conflicts. The agencies enact the decisions of the European Commission, they “operate in a context where single market principles operate,” and while their work is technical, “it can become political,” he said. Only three non-EU countries now sign up to the regulators — Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. De Rynck was also cool on the prospect of mutual recognition for finance, underlining the importance of financial stability and the risks posed by integration without common oversight.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San