MALAYSIA
Central bank head appointed
An official who probed the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, which helped topple the corruption-plagued former regime, has been appointed as the new central bank governor, the government said yesterday. Nor Shamsiah Mohamad Yunus is returning to Bank Negara Malaysia to take up the top job almost two years after leaving her post as deputy governor, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said. Former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Muhammad Ibrahim quit earlier this month after claims emerged that the institution helped former prime minister Najib Razak’s regime by purchasing government land in a bid to cover debts racked up by 1MDB.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Miner stole power: Xinhua
Chinese police have seized more than 200 computers used to mine the cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ethereum after a man tried to swindle the electricity company to avoid the bills he faced to power his operation, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. A man surnamed Ma (馬) allegedly stole 150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in more than a month, Xinhua said, adding that his daily power bill was more than 6,000 yuan (US$924). Police uncovered his scam when they found the electricity meter for the cryptocurrency mining operation had been short-circuited, “which was likely an attempt to dodge the power bill,” the news agency said.
FRANCE
Private growth tops forecast
The private-sector economy expanded at a quicker-than-expected pace this month as stronger services growth outweighed a further slowdown in manufacturing. A composite purchasing managers’ index by IHS Markit Ltd climbed to 55.6, from 54.2 last month, beating the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey for an unchanged reading. Services firms were supported by increases in new work. However, the manufacturing sector faced a “number of headwinds” this month, Markit Economics director Paul Smith said. Those included delivery delays and rising price pressures for metals, with some respondents saying that higher tariffs had an inflationary impact.
MEXICO
Falling peso leads to hike
The Bank of Mexico on Thursday raised its key interest rate to 7.75 percent, citing a drop in the peso and uncertainty over upcoming elections and trade negotiations with the US. The 0.25 percentage point hike was largely expected by markets after the peso crossed the threshold of 20 to the US dollar earlier this month. The central bank said in a statement that the factors behind the volatility included a lack of progress in efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with the US and Canada, as well as uncertainty regarding July 1 elections.
ELECTRONICS
Sharp aims to raise billions
Sharp Corp aims to raise as much as ¥216.2 billion (US$1.96 billion) in a public share sale, with the proceeds to be used to purchase preferred stock and on research and development, the Osaka, Japan-based company said yesterday. Sharp’s share price has declined 7.3 percent since it registered to sell the shares on June 5. Sharp is well into a turnaround since Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) bought the company in 2016 and injected money for capital investment. Sharp is using the bulk of the proceeds to buy back 200,000 preferred shares and retire the stock, it said, adding that the remainder is to be used on capital expenditure and research.
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],”