CHIPMAKERS
Fujian Jinhua plans appeal
Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co (晉華集成電路), a Chinese chipmaker accused of stealing US trade secrets, plans to appeal a US block on technology exports that has frozen its business. The state-owned memorychip maker was charged in November last year along with Taiwanese partner United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) of conspiring to steal intellectual property from Micron Technology Inc. Both companies have since denied the allegations. Jinhua yesterday challenged US authorities to produce proof of the allegations.
UNITED STATES
Tax increase mooted
Senator Elizabeth Warren is proposing a so-called ultra-millionaire tax as she vies for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. According to two economists advising her presidential campaign on the plan, the tax would hit an estimated 75,000 of the wealthiest US households. The new tax plan released on Thursday by the Massachusetts Democrat would impose a new 2 percent fee annually on US households’ net worth greater than US$50 million. The overall new tax bill would rise to 3 percent for households on their net worth above US$1 billion under her plan.
UNITED STATES
Mnuchin touts trade progress
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said he thought that Washington and Beijing were “making a lot of progress” in trade talks, with currency issues also on the agenda. Mnuchin was not specific on the areas where he saw progress. “Currency has always been part of the discussions, it’s on a list, it’s one of the important issues, we’ve talked about it all the time, so it’ll continue to be on it,” Mnuchin said.
ARGENTINA
GDP shows large drop
The economy experienced its worst shrinkage during the tenure of President Mauricio Macri, as GDP dropped 7.5 percent in November last year compared with the same period in 2017, the state statistics bureau said on Thursday. It was the fourth month in a row that the economy dwindled following falls last year of 4.2 percent in October and 6.1 percent in September. For the period last year from January to November, the economy shrank 2.2 percent annually. The worst-hit sectors were commerce, industrial manufacturing and construction.
BANKING
Malayan closing researcher
Malayan Banking Bhd, Malaysia’s biggest lender, is closing its Hong Kong and China institutional equity research business to focus on Southeast Asian operations, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Kim Eng, the investment banking arm of Maybank, has cut seven to eight Hong Kong-based research positions, the people said. The changes were announced internally on Thursday, the people said. New European regulations requiring securities firms to separate research fees from trading commissions have shaken up the industry globally.
BEVERAGES
Starbucks slump ends
Starbucks Corp has put its recent sales slump behind it, beating analysts’ estimates in the key Americas and Asia-Pacific regions in the first quarter. Comparable sales rose 4 percent in the Americas. Same-store sales in China, where Starbucks has about 3,700 stores and is opening a new one roughly every 15 hours, gained 1 percent, marking the second straight quarter of growth after a rare decline last spring.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last