CHINA
Investment slows to 5.3%
The economy yesterday showed fresh signs of softness, with the pace of investment slowing to record lows, while retail spending and industrial production stabilized. Fixed-asset investment from January to last month expanded just 5.3 percent compared with the same period last year. That is slower than the 5.5 percent from January to July, which was the lowest level on record. Output at factories and workshops ticked up 6.1 percent last month from 6 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Retail sales expanded 9 percent last month, from 8.8 percent in July, beating estimates of 8.8 percent.
FRANCE
Growth forecast cut to 1.6%
The economy is expected to expand 1.6 percent this year, the central bank said yesterday, well short of the 2 percent goal originally set by the government for this year. The slower growth is likely to compound the challenges facing President Emmanuel Macron, who campaigned on a pledge to stimulate the economy with reforms that would make it easier to do business in the country. Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire this week acknowledged that growth was unlikely to reach that target, forecasting a 1.7 percent rise in GDP.
TECHNOLOGY
Uber to expand Toronto lab
US ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc on Thursday said it would spend C$200 million (US$154 million) over five years to expand its Toronto lab dedicated to developing artificial intelligence for self-driving cars. The company is also to open a new engineering office in Canada’s largest metropolis early next year, it said in a statement. Uber’s new engineering hub is to join the company’s efforts to roll out new features for its app, and expand into other modes of transportation, such as electric bikes and scooters, as well as partnerships with public transit.
BANKING
Australia regulator sues ANZ
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) is being sued by the securities regulator over a controversial 2015 share sale. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission said that the lender breached continuous disclosure responsibilities by not informing the market that the joint lead managers of the sale took up approximately 25.5 million shares in the placement, the bank said yesterday. The A$2.5 billion (US$1.8 billion) placement of 80.8 million shares is already the subject of separate criminal proceedings relating to how the investment banks disposed of the shares they were left with.
FINANCE
Goldman widens reshuffle
Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which is getting a new chief executive officer next month, announced that it is overhauling the rest of it leadership team. The company on Thursday said that insider John Waldron is to become the president and chief operating officer starting next month. Stephen Scherr, CEO of Goldman Sachs Bank USA, is to become the group’s chief financial officer in November, and R. Martin Chavez, another company veteran, is to become the group’s vice chairman and co-head of the securities division. The company in summer announced that chief executive Lloyd Blankfein is stepping aside next month after 12 years at the helm of the investment bank and that David Solomon is to take over.
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