TECHNOLOGY
Huawei unveils shipments
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday said that it has shipped 100 million smartphones this year as of May 30. He Gang (何剛), who is president of the Huawei consumer business group’s smartphone product line, revealed the numbers at a launch event in Wuhan, China, for its Nova 5 cellphone. The phone is powered by Huawei’s new 7-nanometer Kirin 810 chipset. Huawei has been hit by curbs ordered by Washington, which threatens to cripple its supply chain. Huawei founder and chief executive officer Ren Zhengfei (任正非) on Monday said that the US ban could cost the company US$30 billion in revenue this year and that smartphone sales outside China dropped 40 percent in the past month.
ECONOMY
Eurozone activity improves
Economic activity in the eurozone improved this month, although output remained subdued and doubts remain over the outlook. A flash composite purchasing managers’ index came in at 52.1, slightly higher than economists were expecting and an improvement from a reading of 51.8 last month. The surveys point to growth of 0.2 percent in the second quarter, an improvement on the first quarter, but still weak, the report said. Growth was driven by services, while manufacturing continued a downturn. Sentiment deteriorated in both sectors. While the performance of Germany and France is improving, there is growing concern that the rest of the region is sliding closer toward stagnation, the report said.
SOUTH KOREA
Moon sacks economic aides
President Moon Jae-in yesterday sacked both of his top economic policy aides as Asia’s fourth-largest economy cools sharply due to prolonged US-China trade frictions. Moon appointed Korea Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo as his chief policy secretary and First Vice Minister of Finance Lee Ho-seung as his top economic policy secretary, the presidential office said. They replace Kim Soo-hyun and Yoon Jong-won. The government’s management of the economy came under criticism from opposition parties and investors, but the new appointments fell short of indicating any major shift in policy. “There has been criticism about the way policies are executed and so today’s appointments appear to be more aimed at speedier implementation of policies than at changing policies,” said Choi Seok-won, head of research at SK Securities.
COMMODITIES
Gold passes US$1,400
Gold prices yesterday broke US$1,400 an ounce to hit a near-six-year high as the weaker US dollar, economic concerns and geopolitical tensions saw investors pile into the safe-haven commodity. Demand surged after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated that it would likely cut interest rates soon — for the first time in a decade — which sent the dollar tumbling across the board and making it cheaper to buy the metal. The announcement came as central banks around the world adopt a more dovish stance in the face of a stuttering global economy and as investors fret over the trade outlook with the US and China embroiled in a trade dispute. It also coincided with news that Iran had shot down a US “spy drone,” which it said was in its airspace, ratcheting up a standoff with Washington and fueling concerns of a conflict between the two. Gold prices have surged about 10 percent this month and an ounce cost US$1,411 in Asian trade, its highest since September 2013.
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
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)
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