MEXICO
Banker hints at rate cut
The economist tipped to be Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s first central bank board nominee said that he expects the key interest rate to be cut next year, given the outlook for slowing inflation and growth. “Next year we’re likely to be in a period where the economy is going to decelerate, and, at the same time, we will have inflation going down,” Jonathan Heath, a former chief economist at HSBC Holdings PLC in Mexico, said on Friday. “I believe that in the appropriate moment next year they will begin to reduce rates, though perhaps cautiously.”
APPAREL
Cambodia hikes wages
Cambodia on Friday hiked the monthly minimum wage for garment workers by US$12 from US$170, fulfilling an election promise by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The country’s US$7 billion apparel industry is fueled by more than 740,000 garment workers, who Hun Sen attempted to woo before July’s widely criticized elections. Union representatives said that the hike is not enough to address rising inflation and living expenses.
RETAIL
Mattress Firm goes bankrupt
Mattress Firm Inc, the US’ largest mattress retailer, on Friday filed for bankruptcy protection, saying that its rapid expansion of stores over the past few years — with locations often very close to each other — has resulted in “cannibalization” of sales. The Houston-based company filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in federal court in Delaware, saying that it plans to close up to 700 stores around countrywide as part of its reorganization plan to continue operating.
RETAIL
Worker broke privacy rules
Amazon.com Inc said that it fired an employee who disclosed customer e-mail addresses to a third-party merchant on the Web site in violation of the e-commerce giant’s policies. “The individual responsible for this incident has been terminated from their position,” an Amazon spokesman said in a statement. Amazon alerted the shoppers, although the company said no change of password was needed. The company did not disclose how many customers were affected.
LOGISTICS
UPS union rejects contract
United Parcel Service Inc’s (UPS) union on Friday voted down a five-year labor contract. Opponents of the main contract balked at a US$13-per-hour starting wage for part-timers, US$2 short of what some workers demanded. They were also unhappy with the creation of a new hybrid class of weekend drivers that are to load packages and earn less than current parcel drivers.
INVESTMENT
GIC acquires Masan stake
GIC Pte, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has purchased a stake in Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group Corp, people with knowledge of the matter said. The state investment firm bought about half of KKR & Co’s 4.7 percent stake in Masan, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It purchased the stock as part of a placement by KKR, which offloaded its entire holding in a US$209 million deal, the people said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is