VIETNAM
FDI up 6.2 percent annually
The country received US$4.1 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the first quarter of this year, up 6.2 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said yesterday. FDI has been a key driver of the country’s economic growth. Companies with FDI account for more than 70 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s exports. FDI pledges — which indicate the size of future FDI disbursements — rose 86.2 percent in the January-to-March period from a year earlier to US$10.8 billion, the ministry said in a statement. Of the pledges, 77.7 percent would be invested in manufacturing and processing, while 7.2 percent would go to real estate, the ministry said.
RETAIL
Funds seek new board
Activist funds are launching a proxy fight to replace Bed Bath & Beyond Inc’s entire 12-person board amid concerns that the retailer is not responding well to the rise of e-commerce, people familiar with the matter said. Legion Partners Asset Management LLC, Macellum Advisors and Ancora Advisors LLC control about a 5 percent stake in the Union, New Jersey-based retailer and are seeking to replace chief executive officer Steven Temares, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. The funds have lined up 16 director candidates, including former Gap executive Jeff Kirwan, to replace the current board.
GAMES
Nintendo rises on report
Nintendo Co rose the most in almost eight months after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company plans to introduce two new Switch console models as early as this summer. The shares climbed as much as 6.8 percent to ¥32,520 in Tokyo yesterday, the most on an intraday basis since Aug. 1 last year. One of the models would have enhanced features to cater to avid gamers, while the other version is expected to be a cheaper alternative for casual players, the Journal reported, citing unidentified Nintendo parts suppliers and software developers. The new models might be launched at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles in June.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Xarelto case settled
A US$775 million settlement has been announced in about 25,000 lawsuits involving the blood-thinning medication Xarelto. Cases consolidated in federal court in New Orleans date back to 2014. They involved claims that users of the medication marketed by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals LLC and Janssen Pharmaceutica were not adequately informed of risks of life-threatening complications. A statement from attorneys for the plaintiffs called the settlement a “fair and just resolution.” US District Judge Eldon Faldon presided over the cases. He issued a series of orders on Monday regarding implementation of the settlement.
TECHNOLOGY
Bitmain IPO lapses
Bitmain Technologies Ltd (比特大陸科技控股), the world’s biggest producer of cryptocurrency mining chips, has let its application for Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) lapse. The virtual currency mining firm’s listing application, which was filed in September last year, expired yesterday, according to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Web site. The Beijing-based company was targeting to raise as much as US$3 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. The company said in a statement that it would restart the listing application work at an appropriate time.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San