■FOOD AND BEVERAGES
Super Group to list TDRs
Super Group Ltd (超級集團), the largest instant coffee producer in Southeast Asia, will list its Taiwan depository receipts (TDRs) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday, underwriter Polaris Securities (寶來證券) said on Friday. Super Group has issued 40 million TDRs, which will each represent 0.5 common shares, to raise NT$560 million (US$17.55 million) for the Taiwan listing, according to the company’s prospectus. The TDRs have been set at NT$14 each, which represents a 25.52 percent premium over the company’s closing price on the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday, it said.
■ELECTRONICS
Toshiba recalls laptops
Japanese electronics maker Toshiba has recalled 41,000 laptop computers worldwide because of a fire risk, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said. “The notebook computers can overheat at the notebook’s plug-in to the AC adapter, posing a burn hazard to consumers,” the commission said in a notice issued on Thursday. The computers involved are the Satellite T135, Satellite T135D and Satellite ProT130. The safety commission said that Toshiba has received 129 reports of the computers overheating and deforming the plastic casing area around the AC adapter plug.
■CHINA
Lending to polluters curbed
China has ordered banks to stop new lending to companies that pollute excessively or consume too much energy, as part of a drive to make its economy more energy efficient, state media said yesterday. Shao Fujun (邵伏軍), director of the People’s Bank of China’s credit department, said the central bank had established a database to help banks review companies’ environmental records, the Shanghai Securities News reported. More than 30,000 pieces of information regarding companies’ environmental violations are in the database, the report said.
■ENVIRONMENT
BK boycotts palm oil maker
Environmentalists praised Burger King’s (BK) decision yesterday to stop buying palm oil from an Indonesian company accused of destroying rainforests. The US hamburger chain giant — which sealed a deal on Thursday to sell itself for US$3.26 billion to 3G Capital — said on Friday that it was canceling its contract with PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology over concerns it had not adopted sustainable farming practices. It cited an independent audit that found the company’s plantations had violated several regulations, including planting in peatland swamps and secondary forests.
■RETAIL
Carrefour sets India date
French supermarket giant Carrefour said on Friday it would open its first wholesale store in India by November, joining other foreign chains aiming to break into the country’s vast retail sector. The world’s second-largest retailer hopes the wholesale outlet in New Delhi will pave the way for a string of hypermarkets to serve consumers in the fast-growing economy.
■ENTERTAINMENT
Mattel suing MGA
Toymaker Mattel Inc has filed a lawsuit alleging MGA Entertainment fraudulently transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to keep Mattel from collecting on a judgment. The lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges MGA’s chief executive Isaac Larian and his family members received US$430 million between 2004 and 2008 to keep the money from MGA’s creditors, including Mattel.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
NEXT GENERATION: The new 3-nanometer chip has 28 percent more transistors and offers up to 80 percent faster language model performance than its predecessor MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Wednesday launched a new flagship smartphone chip, Dimensity 9400, made with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) enhanced 3-nanometer technology, aiming to bring more artificial intelligence (AI) applications to edge devices like phones. The Dimensity 9400 is the second smartphone chip using TSMC’s second-generation 3-nanometer technology, after Apple Inc’s A18 Pro chip for the new iPhone 16 series. The new mobile chip has 28 percent more transistors, offers up to 80 percent faster large language model performance and is up to 35 percent more power-efficient than its predecessor, Dimensity 9300, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi Corp (小米),
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