Gambling revenue in Macau last year rose 14 percent, the second consecutive year of gain as demand to wager in the Chinese territory continued to rebound from a prolonged slump.
Last month was also the 29th straight month in which revenue in China’s only legal gambling hub rose versus the same month a year prior, according to data released yesterday by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Revenue rose 16.6 percent to 26.47 billion Macau patacas (US$3.29 billion) versus the 10 to 15 percent estimates of analysts polled by Reuters. Revenue for the full year was 302.85 billion patacas.
Revenue has stabilized since a period of decline, which coincided with a Chinese government campaign against conspicuous spending among public officials.
However, a US-China trade dispute and slowing Chinese economy would likely weigh on sentiment in the high-roller VIP segment, keeping any further revenue gains checked, analysts said.
Nevertheless, casino executives are bullish on the potential benefits from the opening last year of the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge and tunnel, linking Macau to Hong Kong and China’s Pearl River Delta.
Authorities also hope the bridge will boost the development of Macau’s convention and exhibition business, and increase overnight visitation numbers, both of which help drive non-gaming revenue in the gambling-dependent territory.
The special administrative region has been encouraging casino operators to diversify to help broaden its economic base.
Tax from casinos accounts for more than 80 percent of the Macau government’s total revenue.
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
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
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)