TELECOMS
ZTE halts operations
Chinese telecom ZTE Corp (中興通訊) said its major operations had “ceased” following last month’s US ban on US sales of critical technology to the company, raising the possibility of its collapse. “Major operating activities of the company have ceased” as a result of the US decision, it said in a filing on Wednesday. ZTE, which makes telecoms equipment and handsets, is still “actively communicating” with the US side “to facilitate the modification or reversal” of the ban and “forge a positive outcome,” the filing said.
CHIPMAKERS
Qualcomm’s new buy back
Qualcomm Inc unveiled a new plan to buy back US$10 billion in stock, replacing an earlier repurchase program that was almost exhausted. The San Diego, California-based maker of cellphone chips said the plan authorized by the board has no expiration date. The previous buyback was a US$15 billion program that had US$1.2 billion remaining, it said on Wednesday. CEO Steve Mollenkopf reiterated that the company is still executing on the proposed acquisition of Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV before a July 25 deadline.
LOGISTICS
Uber to test food drones
Uber Technologies Inc plans to deliver food by drone in San Diego as part of a wide-reaching commercial test program approved on Wednesday by the US federal government, chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi said. People should expect meal delivery in five to 30 minutes, Khosrowshahi said. The US Department of Transportation said it chose 10 state, local and tribal governments and a handful of companies, including Alphabet Inc, FedEx Corp, Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Uber, to work together on commercial drone testing.
BANKING
RBS fined US$4.9 billion
Britain’s state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) yesterday said that it has been fined US$4.9 billion by the US Department of Justice over its role in the subprime crisis. RBS said it reached a deal with the department to resolve its investigation into RBS’ issuance and underwriting of US residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007. It follows a separate fine of US$5.5 billion agreed in July last year with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency over the same matter.
TAXES
Seattle enjoys sugar rush
Seattle officials say the city’s sugary beverages tax generated more than US$4 million in revenue in its first three months. Finance and Administrative Services department spokeswoman Julie Moore says the office had received more than US$4 million in first-quarter tax payments as of Friday last week. The Seattle Times reports the department expects the amount will increase because some checks were still in the mail and some businesses file their taxes annually. Seattle began taxing sugary beverages, syrups and concentrates at the beginning of this year.
PUBLISHING
Lonely Plant CEO leaves
Wunderkind Lonely Planet CEO Daniel Houghton has departed, the company confirmed on Wednesday, amid reports that the travel brand and guidebook publisher is up for sale. Houghton “has stepped away from Lonely Planet to take on a CEO role at another company,” Lonely Planet spokeswoman Natalie Nicolson confirmed by e-mail, adding that “the rest of the leadership team remains in place and will be continuing with business as usual.”
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last