CONGLOMERATES
Thyssenkrupp changing CEO
Struggling German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp AG, which has in recent months suffered merger setbacks and lost its blue-chip status, late on Tuesday signaled plans to replace its CEO Guido Kerkhoff. The company said in a statement that its supervisory board executive and personnel committees had recommended “to start negotiations to end the board mandate of Guido Kerkhoff shortly.” Amid other suggested changes at the top, he would be replaced by Martina Merz as chairwoman on the executive board for no more than 12 months.
E-CIGARETTES
Juul Labs cutting jobs
Juul Labs Inc is planning to restructure its workforce, scaling back on new hires and eliminating some jobs, a person familiar with the matter said. The e-cigarette maker has been facing increasing scrutiny by US state and federal officials following reports of a mysterious illness related to vaping and a proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes. The San Francisco-based start-up had been rapidly adding thousands of employees as part of global expansion plans. It employs about 3,900 people, more than double the staff count in December last year.
TECHNOLOGY
Amazon launches initiative
Amazon.com Inc has launched an initiative that would allow users to access its Alexa, Microsoft Corp’s Cortana and multiple other voice-controlled virtual assistant services from a single device. The notable exclusions from Amazon’s “Voice Interoperability Initiative” are Alphabet Inc’s Google Assistant, Apple Inc’s Siri and Samsung Electronics Co’s Bixby. The initiative, which has been supported by more than 30 firms, also includes Salesforce.com Inc’s Einstein.
BANKING
Santander takes big hit
Banco Santander SA, the eurozone’s biggest bank by market value, said it would take a 1.5 billion euro (US$1.7 billion) goodwill impairment as Brexit and a “challenging regulatory environment” squeeze profits at its UK business. The impairment would be included in third-quarter results, the Spanish lender said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Santander in 2017 took a 600 million euro charge to reflect lower earnings at Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc, its unit focused on subprime auto loans.
THAILAND
Central bank keeps key rate
The Bank of Thailand left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after last month’s surprise reduction, preserving its policy space as a global slowdown weighs on the economy’s outlook. The Monetary Policy Committee yesterday voted unanimously to hold its key rate at 1.5 percent, the central bank said in a statement. That was in line with the forecasts of 21 of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, with the rest expecting a cut to 1.25 percent.
SOUTH AFRICA
Downturn hits 70th month
The economy remained stuck in its longest downward cycle since 1945, adding to pressure on the government to implement reforms to lift business confidence and boost growth. It entered the 70th month of a weakening cycle this month, the Reserve Bank’s Quarterly Bulletin released yesterday showed. Economic growth and business confidence languished at multiyear lows, while an index gauging sentiment in the manufacturing sector shrank. The Reserve Bank’s 0.6 percent projection for this year would be the slowest annual expansion since 2016.
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