WEALTH
Bezos named world’s richest
Amazon.com Inc chief Jeff Bezos is now the world’s richest person, having snatched the top spot from Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates who slips to second place, according to Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list published on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump’s ranking on the list fell to 766th place from 544th in the last edition, his wealth now being estimated at US$3.1 billion, US$400 million less than a year ago. Bezos’ fortune shot up to US$112 billion, Forbes said, way ahead of the US$90 billion listed for Gates.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Broadcom deal opposed
Broadcom Ltd’s hostile takeover attempt of Qualcomm Inc could pose a national security risk because of Qualcomm’s leadership in developing critical semiconductor technology, the US Department of the Treasury said, setting up a potentially insurmountable hurdle to getting a deal done. Qualcomm’s sale to Singapore-based Broadcom could hurt the chipmaker’s competitiveness by reducing research and development, which would threaten US security, the Treasury said in a letter on Monday, which Qualcomm released the following day. Harm to Qualcomm’s innovation would allow China to expand its influence in key wireless technology, the US government said.
TELECOMS
Blackberry sues Facebook
Canadian telecom firm BlackBerry Ltd on Tuesday sued Facebook Inc, accusing the US social media company of infringing on its patents for messaging apps. BlackBerry is claiming infringement on patents it holds for message encryption and notifications, and is seeking an injunction as well as damages for lost profits, although no figure was given. Facebook and its wholly owned services Instagram and WhatsApp are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
LOGISTICS
Deutsche Post makes targets
German logistics group Deutsche Post DHL Group yesterday said it had hit its targets for last year and remained confident for this year, buoyed by continuing growth in online shopping. Net profit at the Bonn-based firm increased 2.8 percent to 2.7 billion euros (US$3.3 billion) last year, slightly short of forecasts from analysts surveyed by Factset. Operating profit grew 7.2 percent to 3.7 billion euros, while revenue added 5.4 percent to reach 60.4 billion euros.
TOYS
Lego sales, profit contract
Danish toy maker Lego saw profits shrink last year, as the company struggled in major markets, posting its first drop in revenue since 2004. The company’s revenue fell 7.7 percent from a year earlier to 35 billion kroner (US$5.82 billion), weighing down net profit, which plunged 17.2 percent to 7.8 billion kroner. Operating profit decreased 16.8 percent to 10.4 billion kroner.
? INTERNET
WeChat users hit 1 billion
China’s WeChat (微信) social media platform has crossed the 1 billion accounts mark, as its messaging, game and shopping services attract more users. The symbolic threshold was announced on Monday by Ma Huateng (馬化騰), chief executive of its parent company, Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), on the sidelines of China’s National People’s Congress session. The all-in-one app is a daily necessity for most Chinese, bringing together messaging, social media, mobile payment, games, news and other services.
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