ELECTRONICS
Nine charged for theft
South Korea charged nine people and two companies with illegally selling Samsung Electronics Co’s bendable screen technology to a Chinese rival. The CEO of a Samsung supplier and eight of his employees received 15.5 billion won (US$13.8 million) after conspiring with two representatives of the Chinese firm to transfer OLED knowhow, prosecutors in Suwon said in a statement. The names of the companies and individuals were not disclosed. The South Korean supplier transferred “3D lamination” technology and other equipment to the Chinese screen maker between May and August, violating a non-disclosure agreement with Samsung, the prosecutors said. They were caught while loading additional pieces onto a ship headed for the mainland, they said.
INTERNET
Go-Jek trials in Singapore
Indonesia’s Go-Jek yesterday launched a trial version of its ride-hailing taxi app in Singapore, ahead of a full entry planned early next year as it aims to take on market leader Grab. Go-Jek is in the middle of a US$500 million expansion plan beyond its Indonesian base with a focus on Southeast Asia, and has recently introduced services in Vietnam and Thailand. The Singaporean market has been dominated by homegrown tech firm Grab since it bought US-based rival Uber’s ride-hailing and food business in Southeast Asia earlier this year, ending a bruising competition.
SWITZERLAND
Economy fell 0.2% in Q3
The economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, blighted by a drop in exports and weak domestic demand. No economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast the contraction of 0.2 percent — the median prediction was for an expansion of 0.4 percent. The economy grew 2.4 percent from a year earlier. The Swiss National Bank’s most recent forecast, in September, was for growth of 2.5 to 3 percent this year. Yet recent forward-looking indicators have suggested momentum is due to slow down. The nation’s export-oriented machine, electrical and metals industry expects order growth to level off, citing signs of a slowdown in major economies.
ENERGY
Gas price slips below US$2
Sub-US$2 gasoline can now be found in at least one gas station in 20 US states, as the effects of the bear market in crude oil trickle down to motorists. The lowest per-gallon (3.8 liters) retail price, US$1.69, was found at a Buc-ee’s station in Denton, Texas, according to GasBuddy, a company that helps drivers find cheap fuel. The national average has fallen for seven straight weeks to US$2.53 a gallon, the lowest since March. The plunge in gasoline comes after crude futures fell by a third from last month’s peak.
SWEDEN
Economy contracts 0.2%
The economy slid in the third quarter, missing estimates and casting doubts over the central bank’s plan to hike rates as soon as next month. GDP fell 0.2 percent from the prior quarter, but was up 1.6 percent from the same period last year, Statistics Sweden said in a statement. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted quarterly growth of 0.2 percent. The data comes on the back of falling confidence levels and disappointing retail sales, and is bound to be taken into account by the Riksbank as it decides whether to raise rates next month or wait until February. The quarterly contraction, on the back of falling household consumption, was the first decline since the second quarter of 2013.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day