TECHNOLOGY
Lenovo reports annual loss
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) yesterday said it recorded a US$189 million net loss over its full fiscal year due largely to a one-time charge, adding that it was planning an overhaul to broaden its appeal. The Beijing-based company also reported a 69 percent annual decline in profit in its fourth quarter ending on March 31 to US$33 million. Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 11 percent year-on-year to 10.6 billion, the first double-digit increase in 10 quarters, while full-year revenue was up 5 percent.
LUGGAGE
Samsonite shares stumble
Samsonite International SA, the world’s largest branded-luggage maker, tumbled the most since 2012 after short-seller Blue Orca Capital questioned the company’s accounting and corporate governance. Samsonite concealed slowing growth with debt-funded acquisitions and inflated profit margins with dubious accounting linked to its takeovers, Blue Orca alleged in a report yesterday. Shares of the Hong Kong-listed company slumped 9.8 percent to HK$30.70 before trading was halted at 11:18am. Blue Orca said the stock is worth HK$17.59.
MACROECONOMICS
Singapore’s growth solid
Singapore’s economy remained on solid footing in the first quarter, with the government expressing more certainty of a steady pace of between 2.5 and 3.5 percent for this year as global trade risks and tightening financial conditions allow for a patient monetary policy. GDP rose at a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 1.7 percent from the prior three months, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said yesterday, higher than the government’s previous projection of 1.4 percent. GDP expanded 4.4 percent in the first quarter from the same period last year.
BANKING
Fed signals June rate hike
The key interest rate is likely to be raised “soon,” the US Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a clear signal of a rate hike coming next month as financial markets expect. Fed officials cited the strength of the economy and solid hiring trends, as well as inflation inching higher at long last. However, the Fed would continue to move only gradually, even if inflation rises “modestly” above its 2 percent target, the minutes of the May 1 and May 2 meeting of its policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee showed.
BANKING
Turkey raises rate to 16.5%
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on Wednesday sharply raised its key lending rate to try to stem an outflow of capital from the country, control inflation and support the beleaguered currency. The Turkish lira regained some of its value after the bank’s monetary policy committee held an emergency meeting and announced that it was raising the rate from 13.5 percent to 16.5 percent. The value of the lira responded by rising to about 4.58 per US dollar, down about 5 percent from Tuesday.
TECHNOLOGY
Uber end Arizona test
Uber Technologies Inc is pulling its self-driving cars out of Arizona in a reversal triggered by the recent death of woman who was run over by one of the company’s robotic vehicles while crossing a darkened street in a Phoenix suburb. The decision announced on Wednesday means that Uber will not be bringing back its self-driving cars to the streets to Arizona, eliminating about 300 jobs.
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
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],”