VIETNAM
Growth hits 7.3% in Q4
Growth accelerated in the fourth quarter as stronger manufacturing output helped the economy remain one of the world’s best performers. The country’s GDP grew by 7.3 percent in the three months through this month from the same period last year, up from a revised 6.82 percent in the previous quarter, the General Statistics Office (GSO) in Hanoi said yesterday. Economic growth for the full year was 7.1 percent, it said, compared with the median estimate of 6.9 percent in a Bloomberg survey of 12 economists. “Manufacturing is a bright spot of the economy,” GSO Director-General Nguyen Bich Lam said at a briefing. Lam said he expects growth to remain strong next year as free-trade deals boost exports. Manufacturing this year rose 13 percent from last year, while realized foreign direct investment rose 9 percent. Exports increased 13.8 percent, with sales of electronics goods surging. Vietnam posted a trade deficit of US$200 million this month.
RUSSIA
Economy could slow further
The economy could hit some speed bumps next year and inflation could rise, due to risks of new sanctions, a weaker ruble and a planned tax increase, a Reuters monthly poll showed yesterday. Economic growth has been below the global average in the past few years, hampered by a weak and volatile currency, a drop in oil prices and sanctions imposed by the EU and the US from 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. After expanding by 1.7 percent this year, GDP was seen growing by 1.4 percent next year, the consensus forecast of 17 analysts and economists showed. That is below the World Bank’s estimate that the global economy grew 3.1 percent this year. “The next year will be tough. Economic growth will slow amid an increase to the value-added tax, higher inflation and lending rates,” Renaissance Capital chief economist Oleg Kouzmin said.
AVIATION
Vinci to take over Gatwick
Vinci SA has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Gatwick Airport for £2.9 billion (US$3.66 billion) as the French construction company expands its portfolio of aviation infrastructure with a major London hub. The purchase of the 50.01 percent stake from a group of investors including sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Australia is to be completed in the first half of next year, the French company said in a statement yesterday. Existing shareholder Global Infrastructure Partners is to manage the other 49.99 percent. With 45.7 million passengers this year, Gatwick is to become the largest airport in Vinci’s global network. Gatwick has been under pressure due to intensifying competition from London’s other airports.
TECHNOLOGY
NEC to buy Denmark’s KMD
Japan’s NEC yesterday said that it would buy Denmark’s largest IT firm KMD for US$1.2 billion, as part of its effort to expand its European and global businesses. Under the plan, the information technology giant is to buy all the shares of KMD Holding APS for 8 billion krone by the end of February, NEC said in a statement. “Through this acquisition, NEC will acquire a business model that leverages platforms in the digital government domain as it aims to expand business from northern Europe to the whole of Europe and globally,” it said. The acquisition is to be finalized after NEC completes the necessary procedures, including getting approval from the European Commission.
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
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by