APPAREL
Adidas reports strong growth
German sportswear maker Adidas AG said yesterday that its strong growth continued into the second quarter, with its biggest problems in overcoming bottlenecks in its supply chain. The Bavarian group added 34 percent to its second-quarter revenue last year, reaching 531 million euros (US$595 million) to beat analysts’ forecasts. Revenue grew by 4.7 percent to 5.5 billion euros, making for an operating profit up 8.6 percent at 643 million euros.
STEELMAKERS
Thyssenkrupp losses ease
German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp yesterday reported lower losses in the third quarter, flagging up three struggling businesses and slashing its forecasts as it tackles a massive restructuring. Essen-based Thyssenkrupp lost 77 million euros in the April-June period, the third quarter of its financial year, it said in a statement. Last year, it lost 114 million euros over the same period. Revenue held steady at 10.8 billion euros, but operating profit plunged 25 percent, to 183 million euros.
BEVERAGES
Nestle, Starbucks eye China
Nestle SA plans to introduce its first-ever range of Starbucks Corp-branded products in China as part of a global tie-up to help bolster the Swiss company’s proprietary Nespresso capsules in one of its fastest-growing markets. The two companies are to sell 21 products from the Starbucks At Home line, including whole-bean and ground packaged coffees, as well Starbucks capsules created using the Nespresso and Nescafe Dolce Gusto systems, they said in a statement yesterday.
REAL ESTATE
Political turmoil hurts Savills
Political turmoil in Hong Kong and the UK is weighing on Savills PLC, the UK’s largest publicly traded property broker. Profits from advising on transactions halved in the first six months to £9.9 million (US$12 million) from a year earlier, as concerns about Brexit and demonstrations in Hong Kong damped demand, chief executive officer Mark Ridley said yesterday.
MINING
Glencore shuts facility
Cobalt hit the headlines on Wednesday after Glencore PLC shut a key African facility that mines the rare metal and blamed prices that have been tumbling from highs seen in recent years on battery demand. Zurich-based resources giant Glencore, which also announced slumping first-half profit, temporarily halted output at its Mutanda mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Katanga Province.
SOFTWARE
Salesforce to make purchase
Salesforce.com Inc on Wednesday said that it is to acquire ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd for about US$1.35 billion in cash and stock, adding digital tools that help companies manage employees working in the field. Salesforce, the biggest seller of customer-relationship software, was reported in January to be in talks to buy privately held ClickSoftware.
HEALTHCARE
Healthineers buying Corindus
Siemens Healthineers AG yesterday said that it is to buy US robotics firm Corindus Vascular Robotics Inc for US$1.1. billion to bolster its business of providing assistance in operating rooms and diversify away from scanners. Erlangen, Germany-based Healthineers is to buy Waltham, Massachusetts-based Corindus for US$4.28 a share, it said in a statement.
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