TRANSPORTATION
Uber increases bond offering
Uber Technologies Inc increased the size of its debut bond offering as orders for the private placement swelled in a market hungry for deals, people with knowledge of the sale said. The ride-hailing firm set final terms for the debt, including a US$1.5 billion portion of eight-year bonds and US$500 million of five-year securities, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Uber is wrapping up the deal after Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc told the firm that it could be valued at about US$120 billion in an initial public offering next year, people with knowledge of those discussions told reporters earlier yesterday. While chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi has said that the company is planning to go public in the second half of next year, Uber is now considering doing so earlier.
SEMICONDUCTORS
New orders raise ASML sales
Fourth-quarter sales and profit forecasts at ASML Holding NV, Europe’s largest semiconductor equipment maker, beat analyst expectations as the chip industry bellwether announced five new orders for its newest lithography machines in the third quarter. The company forecast sales of 3 billion euros (US$3.47 billion) for the fourth quarter, compared with an average analyst estimate of 2.9 billion euros, and gross margin of about 48 percent, beating the average estimate of 45.3 percent. The forecast “gets us for the full year to approximately 11 billion euros, which again is a record year for ASML,” chief financial officer Roger Dassen said in a video statement. Third-quarter sales came in at 2.78 billion euros, just beating the average analyst estimate of 2.75 billion euros.
AUTOMAKERS
September sales in EU fall
Car sales last month slumped across Europe, weakening after a sales binge before new emissions tests came into force, industry data published yesterday showed. Concern over the new tests knocked Volkswagen (VW) out of its traditional top spot in monthly sales. At 1.09 million, passenger car sales last month were down 23.5 percent in the EU compared with a year earlier, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said in a statement. Sales had jumped by nearly one-third in August, traditionally a soft month for car sales as many Europeans are on vacation, as carmakers discounted vehicles that had not been certified using the new emissions test. Sales of VW’s own-brand cars were down 52 percent, while luxury subsidiary Porsche saw a near 70 percent collapse.
REAL ESTATE
People fear losing homes
Tens of millions of people worldwide fear losing their homes and land in the next five years, a survey of 15 nations released yesterday showed. A lack of formal documentation and poor implementation of land laws threaten tenure in many nations, researchers and policymakers said at a presentation of the Global Property Rights Index, which gauges citizens’ perceptions. “Around the world more than 40 million people worry that their home or place of work will be taken from them,” said Anna Locke from the Overseas Development Institute, a British think tank that is involved in the index, at a launch event in Rome, Italy. “This will affect the way they behave, and their countries’ overall development prospects.” Overall, one in four respondents feared their property being taken away.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San