TRAVEL
HK unveils relief measures
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan (陳茂波) yesterday announced a range of relief measures targeting travel agents and the transportation industry in a renewed effort to help struggling businesses as the territory grapples with the economic fallout of ongoing political turmoil. The measures include widening rent reduction of public properties; a HK$16.5 million (US$2 million) inspection subsidy for commercial vessels; support for travel agents; and a six-month fuel subsidy for taxis and some minibuses, Chan told a press conference. The government is also in talks with the travel industry over additional relief measures, he added.
CHINA
PBOC injects US$35bn
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) yesterday used open-market operations to inject the largest amount of cash into the banking system since May, as upcoming corporate tax payments tighten liquidity conditions. The bank net injected 250 billion yuan (US$35 billion) via seven-day reverse repurchase agreements, it said in a statement. There were no facilities coming due yesterday and the bank kept the rate steady at 2.55 percent. The PBOC is acting to fine-tune interbank liquidity conditions while it keeps broader monetary policy settings stable. The move comes before a Friday deadline for companies to pay tax, which typically increases the demand for cash and tightens liquidity.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple scammer sentenced
A Chinese man on Monday was sentenced to three years and one month in US federal prison for trafficking fake and altered Apple Inc iPhones. The US attorney’s office in Portland said that Jiang Quan was also sentenced to three years’ supervised release after he completes his sentence. Prosecutors said that over the span of two years, Jiang sent about 3,000 fake iPhones, imported from Hong Kong, to Apple, saying they would not turn on and should be replaced under warranty. Apple responded by sending almost 1,500 replacement iPhones, each with an approximate resale value of US$600. Jiang pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods.
BANKING
Fosun eyes German bank
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd (復星國際) is among suitors considering bids for Bankhaus Lampe KG, the private bank owned by Germany’s billionaire Oetker family, people familiar with the matter said. ABN Amro Bank NV and Franco-German financial group Oddo BHF are also weighing offers for the private bank, the people said. A sale could value the Bielefeld-based firm at 200 million euros (US$223 million) or more, one of the people said. Bankhaus Lampe generated 14.9 million euros in profit last year, down from 15 million euros a year earlier. Assets under management fell to 19.1 billion euros, from 22.4 billion euros.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault pushes fuel-cell van
Renault SA yesterday said it would offer its electric Kangoo van with added hydrogen fuel cells before the end of the year and roll out the technology to another model next year. The move sees the French automaker joining rivals Toyota Motor Corp and Hyundai Motor Co in sticking with fuel-cell vehicles even as the industry largely backs electric cars powered by lithium-ion batteries. The hydrogen addition would boost the driving range of Renault’s Kangoo and Master vans as much as threefold compared with electric models, allowing a refueling in 5 to 10 minutes, the company said.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”