JAPAN
Trade surplus plummets
The trade surplus last month dropped by about 90 percent, official data showed yesterday, with exports affected by a slowdown in China’s economy as it is engaged in a trade dispute with the US. The trade surplus with the US grew 17.7 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. The overall trade surplus plummeted 90.3 percent to ¥60.4 billion (US$550 million). The decrease was chiefly due to falls in exports of chip-related products to China, the Ministry of Finance data showed.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation up on energy costs
Energy and transport costs pushed inflation back above target last month. Consumer prices rose 2.1 percent from a year earlier, ending a three- month spell of inflation below the Bank of England’s 2 percent goal, Office for National Statistics figures published yesterday showed. The figure was slightly below the 2.2 percent forecast by economists. The pickup, from 1.9 percent in March, was driven by the lifting of the government cap on default energy tariffs.
PHILIPPINES
Small miners get tax break
The country has passed a law exempting gold sales by small-scale miners to the central bank from excise and income taxes to beef up the country’s foreign-exchange reserves and prevent smuggling, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said yesterday. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law into effect on March 29, the bank said in a statement. Gold accounted for nearly 10 percent of the country’s gross international reserves of US$83.96 billion at the end of last month.
UNITED STATES
Lighthizer to meet officials
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is to meet with officials from the EU and Japan in Paris today regarding joint efforts to address the non market-oriented policies and practices of other countries, his office said. The meeting, which is expected to focus largely on Chinese subsidies, is to take place on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the 36-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development yesterday and today.
CHINA
Ex-liquor boss to be probed
The country is to prosecute the former deputy party secretary and chairman of luxury liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co (貴州茅台), the Chinese Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said yesterday. Yuan Renguo (袁仁國), a former official of the world’s largest listed alcohol firm, with market capitalization of 1.12 trillion yuan (US$162.3 billion), has been expelled from the party and removed from all posts, the commission said on its Web site.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla price cut sparks fear
Tesla Inc has reduced the prices of its two most expensive models, raising concerns about fading interest in its vehicles and whether it can generate enough cash to pay all the bills. Tesla on Monday cut US$3,000 from the price of the Model S sedan and US$2,000 from the Model X sports utility vehicle. The company said in a statement that it periodically adjusts prices and available options like other automakers. The decreases offset price increases from a month ago when Tesla offered longer battery range and added a new drive system and suspension.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six