CHINA
Factory activity decreases
Factory activity in January contracted for a third straight month, but at a slower pace, helped by improvements in domestic manufacturing, a private survey showed yesterday. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 49.9 from 48.3 in January — staying below the neutral 50 mark dividing expansion from contraction for a third month. The figures were more upbeat than an official survey on Thursday, which showed that business sentiment in the sector dropped to a three-year low and export orders fell to their lowest in a decade.
TELECOM
Huawei defends itself in ad
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) on Thursday ran a full-page ad in major US newspapers urging readers not to believe “everything you hear” about the Chinese tech firm, as it defends itself against government accusations that its equipment can be used to spy. The company touted its relief efforts in disaster-torn countries like Chile and Indonesia, as well as its work to connect the underserved worldwide. The advertisement ran in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Politico, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times.
RETAIL
Chile fines supermarkets
A Chilean anti-trust court on Thursday fined two homegrown supermarket chains and the local branch of Walmart Inc US$12.4 million for colluding to fix the price of fresh chicken. The Chilean Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition found that Walmart, Cencosud SA and SMU SA had worked together to set prices from 2008 to 2011. The three chains, which control 92.5 percent of Chile’s grocery sector, said in separate statements that they would appeal the ruling to the Chilean Supreme Court.
TRANSPORTATION
Uber in talks to buy Careem
Uber Technologies Inc is in advanced discussions to buy Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based rival Careem Networks FZ, a deal that would expand the ride-hailing giant’s operations in the Middle East, people familiar with the matter said. The companies might announce a cash-and-shares transaction that values Careem at about US$3 billion in the coming weeks, the people said. The companies declined to comment.
ENTERTAINMENT
HBO’s Plepler to step down
Home Box Office Inc’s (HBO) long-time chief executive is leaving the cable channel, less than a year after AT&T Inc acquired HBO’s parent company. In a memo to HBO staffers on Thursday, CEO Richard Plepler said that it was the right time for him to leave. In June last year, a US federal judge approved AT&Ts merger with Time Warner Inc, a deal worth more than US$80 billion. HBO declined comment on Plepler’s departure or his successor.
FINANCE
Mitsubishi eyes DZ unit
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc is close to buying German lender DZ Bank AG’s aviation finance business for about US$6.3 billion, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be its biggest acquisition since the deal that created the Japanese mega-bank in 2005. The assets are held by DVB Bank SE, a subsidiary that DZ has been trying to get rid of ever since its shipping exposure ripped a hole in its balance sheet. DVB’s aviation finance portfolio was valued at 5.4 billion euros (US$6.1 billion) as of June last year, according to a January presentation. An announcement was expected as early as yesterday, the people said.
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)