TECHNOLOGY
Apple scales up encryption
Apple Inc on Wednesday said it was strengthening encryption on its iPhones to thwart police efforts to unlock handsets without legitimate authorization. The move by Apple, the latest in an ongoing clash with law enforcement, comes amid reports of growing use of a tool known as GrayKey that can enable police to bypass iPhone security features. The new features are not designed to frustrate law enforcement, but prevent any bypassing of encryption by good or bad actors, Apple said.
AUTOMAKERS
Rolls-Royce to cut UK jobs
Britain’s Rolls-Royce said it would cut 4,600 jobs primarily in the UK as part of a plan to simplify its business and save £400 million (US$538 million) a year by the end of 2020. The engineering company said the job cuts and overhaul of its business would cost it £500 million and be spread between now and the end of 2020, which would be reported as separate one-off costs, allowing it to stick to its targets for free cash flow. Rolls-Royce has 55,000 employees worldwide of which 26,000 are in Britain.
BREWING
Carlsberg plans India IPO
Carlsberg A/S is planning a initial public offering (IPO) of its Indian business, people with knowledge of the matter said, as it seeks to tap India’s growing middle class’s increasing thirst for foreign beer. The Danish brewer is interviewing potential arrangers for the share sale over the next few weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
AUTOMAKERS
Volkswagen to accept fine
Volkswagen AG on Wednesday said that it is being fined 1 billion euros (US$1.18 billion) by German authorities in connection with the diesel emissions scandal. Volkswagen said in a statement it would accept the fine imposed by prosecutors in Braunschweig. Prosecutors concluded that Volkswagen failed to properly oversee the activity of its engine development department, resulting in about 10.7 million diesel vehicles with illegal emissions-controlling software being sold worldwide.
REAL ESTATE
Swire discusses HK sale
Swire Properties Ltd is in talks to sell its stakes in two Hong Kong towers to Hengli Investments Holding Group (恆力房地產) for more than HK$14 billion (US$1.78 billion), people familiar with the matter said, adding to a spate of deals in the world’s priciest office market. Hengli is in discussion with banks on getting financing for the purchase of the buildings, known as Cityplaza Three and Cityplaza Four, the people said. Hengli is a Hong Kong-based property investment firm linked to Chen Chang Wei (陳長偉), who is listed as a director of the company, regulatory filings showed.
THAILAND
GDP estimate might improve
The World Bank might boost its projection for economic growth in the nation, where the pace of expansion hit a five-year high last quarter. A stable outlook and signs that companies are investing again domestically are among the positive factors for the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, said Ulrich Zachau, the world bank’s director for Thailand and regional partnerships. The lender’s estimate is for a 4.1 percent climb in GDP this year. GDP rose 4.8 percent in January through March from a year earlier, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
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