PHARMACEUTICALS
Glaxo mulls new vaccine
GlaxoSmithKline PLC is considering whether to develop a new vaccine against a sexually transmitted infection that is threatening to become unstoppable. The company is in discussions with regulators about how the label on Bexsero, its vaccine that prevents a form of meningitis, could be expanded to include gonorrhea, an age-old disease that is becoming more difficult to treat, said Emmanuel Hanon, head of research and development at Glaxo’s vaccine unit. The UK drugmaker is also looking at the possibility of developing a vaccine targeted specifically against gonorrhea, he said.
EUROPEAN UNION
ECB too male-heavy
The European Central Bank (ECB) should bring more women into leadership jobs to improve gender balance, the only female member of the powerful institution’s board said. “I’m convinced that diversity in management positions is an intelligent idea to pursue,” Sabine Lautenschlaeger said. Lautenschlaeger’s appeal follows the ECB’s vote early this month in favor of a male candidate, Italy’s Andrea Enria, to succeed banking supervision chief Daniele Nouy from next year.
FINANCE
Goldman must boost controls
Goldman Sachs Group Inc was told by regulators to tighten its risk oversight and increase reports of internal debates about deals just after the bank completed US$6.5 billion of bond financing for Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd, the Financial Times reported. Goldman implemented changes to the internal committees that oversee how its operations work, under pressure from the New York Federal Reserve, the newspaper said. The reforms were agreed upon in 2013 after the US Federal Reserve pressed Goldman to be more transparent, but were not publicly disclosed, it reported.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Bitcoin tumble continues
Bitcoin’s tumble worsened over the weekend, putting last year’s crash within striking distance of the cryptocurrency’s worst bear markets. The virtual currency fell as low as US$3,475 on Sunday, Bitstamp prices showed. The crash, which also ensnared rival coins such as Ether and XRP, has entered the same league as bitcoin’s 93 percent plunge in 2011 and its 84 percent rout from 2013 to 2015, during the collapse of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.
SINGAPORE
Firm’s troubles affect bonds
An investigation into troubled Indonesian property developer PT Lippo Karawaci, controlled by the Southeast Asian billionaire Riady family, is reverberating in the bond market. Singaporean dollar-denominated notes issued by First Real Estate Investment Trust and those sold by OUE Ltd, which is controlled by the family, have dropped as a liquidity crunch prompts concern that the group is using other entities to help shore up finances.
ELECTRONICS
Justices hear Apple defense
Apple Inc is at the US Supreme Court to defend the way that it sells apps for iPhones against claims by consumers that the company has unfairly monopolized the market. The justices heard arguments yesterday in Apple’s effort to end an antitrust lawsuit that could force the iPhone maker to cut the 30 percent commission it charges software developers whose apps are sold exclusively through Apple’s App Store. A judgement could triple the compensation to consumers under antitrust law if Apple loses.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to