NEW ZEALAND
Q4 growth disappoints
The economy grew less than expected in the final quarter of last year, reinforcing bets that the central bank is in no rush to raise interest rates. GDP gained 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the third, when it also rose 0.6 percent, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday. The economy expanded 2.9 percent from 2016, less than the 3.1 percent forecast. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand last month signaled that it would keep the official cash rate at 1.75 percent until the middle of next year and traders see just a 40 percent chance of a hike before the end of this year.
CHINA
FDI edges up 0.5%
Foreign direct investment (FDI) rose 0.5 percent year-on-year to 139.4 billion yuan (US$22.06 billion) in the first two months of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said on its Web site yesterday. Foreign investment into high-tech manufacturing totaled 14.53 billion yuan over the period, up 89.7 percent. Meanwhile, China Investment Corp (中國投資), an US$814 billion sovereign wealth fund, said it plans to expand investments in areas such as real estate, hedge funds, infrastructure and private equity for more stable returns, as it reduces exposure to volatile public markets.
AUTOMOTIVE
Lyft, Magna team up
Lyft Inc has struck a multimillion-dollar partnership with North America’s biggest automotive supplier to fund and develop systems needed to make self-driving vehicles a reality. Magna International Inc and Lyft are to share the intellectual property from codeveloping autonomous vehicles, and Magna will be free to sell the technology to auto companies. In addition to helping fund the partnership, Magna has made a US$200 million equity investment in Lyft, extending the ride-hailing company’s most recent financing round to US$1.7 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Broadcom withdraws bid
Broadcom Ltd has officially withdrawn its US$117 billion bid to buy US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, two days after US President Donald Trump blocked the Singaporean company’s ambitions over national security fears. Broadcom on Wednesday said that it was disappointed with Trump’s decision. The company withdrew its proposed candidates for Qualcomm’s board, but said it still plans to move its headquarters to the US.
RETAIL
Inditex profit growth slows
Spain’s retail giant Inditex SA, which owns Zara, on Wednesday said that net profit for last year rose by a slower 7 percent due in part to a warm autumn, as it tackles an increase in online shopping. Inditex, which owns eight brands, including Zara, Bershka and Massimo Dutti, said net profit rose to 3.37 billion euros (US$4.2 billion), a slower increase than in 2015 and 2016. The Spanish company’s sales rose 9 percent to 25.3 billion euros.
AIRLINES
Lufthansa posts record profit
German airline giant Lufthansa AG yesterday reported record profits for last year, celebrating a year that saw it bury a smouldering dispute with pilots and gobble up parts of defunct rival Air Berlin. Net profits at the group — which includes Lufthansa, Eurowings, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines — added 33.1 percent to hit 2.36 billion euros, higher than the 2.28 billion euros predicted by analysts. Group revenue grew 12.4 percent to 35.6 billion euros.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six