SEMICONDUCTORS
Intel boosts profit forecast
Intel Corp beat earnings expectations for the first quarter and on Thursday raised its full-year revenue and profit forecasts, driven by higher demand for chips from data centers and personal computers. The company said it expects full-year revenue of US$67.5 billion, up US$2.5 billion from its prior guidance. The company’s net income rose to US$4.45 billion, or US$0.93 per share, in the quarter that ended on March 31, from US$2.96 billion, or US$0.61 per share, a year earlier. Net revenue rose to US$16.07 billion from US$14.80 billion. Excluding items, the chipmaker earned US$0.87 per share.
INTERNET
Baidu net profit surges
China search engine giant Baidu Inc (百度) yesterday reported its net profit nearly tripled in the first quarter after spinning off its video unit as part of a corporate reorientation toward artificial intelligence (AI). The Beijing-based company said net income for the quarter soared 277 percent to 6.7 billion yuan (US$1.06 billion). The company would continue to strengthen its mobile foundation and lead in AI, Baidu chairman Robin Li (李彥宏) said.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda sees strong growth
Honda Motor Co yesterday said its annual net profit grew more than 70 percent thanks to strong growth in sales of its cars and motorcycles, as well as US corporate tax cuts. Japan’s third-largest automaker logged net profits of ¥1.06 trillion (US$9.7 billion), up 71.8 percent from the previous year, with sales of ¥15.36 trillion, up 9.7 percent. Motorcycle sales were particularly strong, growing 15.3 percent from the previous year, it said.
AVIATION
Delays hit Airbus profits
Airbus SE saw its profits plunge by 30 percent in the first quarter due to delays in delivery of its A320neo engines, but still plans to supply 800 aircraft this year, the company said yesterday. Its net income dropped to 283 million euros (US$342 million) from 409 million euros for the same period last year. Earlier this month, Airbus announced it would boost production of its A320 aircraft, despite problems in its supply chain.
AUTO PARTS
LG to buy ZKW Holding
LG Electronics Inc says it is to acquire Austrian-based automotive light maker ZKW Holding in the company’s biggest acquisition so far. The South Korean company said on Thursday it plans to buy a 70 percent stake in ZKW, a supplier to BMW and Mercedes-Benz, for 1.4 trillion won (US$1.3 billion). Its holding company LG Corp is to purchase the remaining stake for 330 million euros. The company said the acquisition would also help develop advanced automotive lighting for self-driving cars and next-generation automotive lighting.
CONGLOMERATES
Sony Corp recovery extends
Sony Corp yesterday reported profits worth US$4.5 billion, extending a roaring recovery supported by better sales of smartphone image sensors and movies, and improvement in its finance businesses. Net profit reached ¥490.8 billion for the first quarter, compared with ¥73.3 billion a year earlier, thanks to increased sales across the board and favorable foreign exchange rates. Annual operating profit more than doubled to ¥734.86 billion, while sales surged 12.4 percent to ¥8.54 trillion, the company said.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day