GLOBAL ECONOMY
UN eyes 3.2% global growth
The global economy is set to expand faster than expected this year and next year, the UN said on Thursday, predicting a new a growth rate of 3.2 percent. The surge reflected “strong growth in developed countries and broadly favorable investment conditions,” the UN report said. Multilateralism, which is facing mounting criticism worldwide, “is not an option, it’s a necessity,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Elliott Harris said. However, the report also highlighted the dangers of “high inequality and the renewed rise in carbon emissions.”
JAPAN
Consumer sentiment falters
Consumer prices edged up 0.7 percent last month, weaker than in previous months and still far below a longstanding target, government data showed yesterday. The core inflation rate, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, stood at 0.7 percent last month, down from 0.9 percent the previous month, the data showed. That was slightly lower than market expectations of 0.8 percent. With fresh food and energy stripped out, prices rose by even less — just 0.4 percent last month, the Bank of Japan said.
DERIVATIVES
Apex to trade in Singapore
Chinese-backed Asia Pacific Exchange Pte (Apex) yesterday said it is to start trading in Singapore, the latest foray into overseas trading venues by mainland investors. Apex would offer palm olein futures that would be dollar-denominated and physically delivered, it said in a statement. The bourse would be the third derivatives exchange in the city-state, joining venues owned by Singapore Exchange Ltd and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. Apex is privately funded and led by industry veteran Eugene Zhu (朱玉辰), who previously ran the Dalian Commodity Exchange and the China Financial Futures Exchange.
RETAILERS
Online sales help Walmart
US retail giant Walmart Inc saw quarterly profits take a hit, but earnings beat analysts’ expectations and total sales rose amid the growth of its online business, the company said on Thursday. Net income was down US$905 million from the same period a year earlier to US$2.134 billion. However, the key earnings per share measure was US$1.14, two cents higher than expected. Net sales, at US$121.6 billion, were up 4.4 percent over the same period a year earlier — more than US$1 billion higher than expectations. US comparable store sales rose 2.1 percent and customer traffic increased 0.8 percent, although the unseasonably cold weather hurt sales in the US, Walmart said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Toshiba-Bain deal approved
Toshiba Corp received regulatory approval from China for the sale of its memorychip business, clearing the way for the ¥2 trillion (US$18 billion) deal with a group led by Bain Capital. The sale of the semiconductor business is to take place on June 1 after approval was gained from all necessary regulators, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement on Thursday. “We are making this important investment because we see the opportunity to further grow Toshiba Memory Corporation,” Bain Capital said. Bain’s group includes SK Hynix Inc, Apple Inc, Hoya Corp and Seagate Technology PLC with Toshiba to retain a stake in the business.
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to