■ Semiconductors
Intel delays chip update
In the latest misstep for the world's largest chip maker, Intel Corp said a faster version of its flagship Pen-tium 4 microprocessor will not be available by the end of the year as previously pro-mised. The company told PC makers this week that the 4-gigahertz chip will not ship until the first quar-ter of next year. Currently, the fastest model runs at 3.6 gigahertz. "We felt by adjusting the schedule for the products, we could better meet our customers' volume requirements and their high expectations," said Intel spokeswoman Laura Anderson on Friday. She declined to elaborate on the reason for the delay. Last week, chief executive Craig Barrett sent a message to all employees urging them to "focus intensely on actions and attitudes that will con-tinue Intel's strong track record."
■ Labor
Subsidies suggested
A senior member of Singa-pore's labor federation has suggested that the govern-ment subsidize low-paid workers to reduce the city-state's dependence on foreign laborers, a news report said yesterday. Offering incentive packages for jobs with meager pay might attract Singaporean workers, The Straits Times newspaper quoted Ong Ah Heng, secretary general of the National Trades Union Congress, as saying. "A local may be willing to do the job, but when he receives the payroll, how is he going to pay his bills?" Ong was quoted as saying. He suggested the govern-ment provide subsidies of S$300 to S$400 (US$175-US$240) a month to supplement salaries for workers such as grass-cutters, which can be as low as S$700, the paper said. Singapore's labor leaders have warned in the past few weeks that the country faces rising structural unemployment and might need to reduce its high number of foreign workers.
■ Crime
Enron's Rice pleads guilty
Kenneth Rice, the former head of Enron Corp's high-speed Internet unit, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of securities fraud and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors pursuing other cases related to the company's collapse. Rice faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to US$1 million. Sentencing was set for Jan. 31. The plea agreement with federal prosecutors also requires him to forfeit US$13.7 million in cash and property. Rice was charged n May last year with selling 1.2 million shares of Enron stock for more than US$76 million while he knew Enron Broadband Services was failing. The Justice Department says the unit never made a dime and was abandoned shortly after Enron's bankruptcy filing in December 2001.
■ Aviation
Alitalia losses grow
Italy's troubled airline Alitalia announced on Fri-day that it had incurred losses of 330 million euros (US$400 million) in the first half of this year. Net losses last year were 519.2 million euros compared to a profit of 93.1 million euros in 2002. The board of Alitalia also gave its go-ahead to the broad outlines of a rescue plan put forward by the airline's new boss Giancarlo Cimoli aimed at balancing the books by the end of 2006. The restruc-turing scheme is based on reduced staff costs, estab-lishing alliances and outsourcing activities such as airport services and aircraft maintenance.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
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