STEEL
POSCO details expansion
South Korea’s POSCO announced plans for local and overseas expansion yesterday, saying it would build a US$1.4 billion plant in South Korea in addition to a new plant in India. The company said it would invest 1.6 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) in the plant in Gwangyang City on the south coast, with a production capacity of 3.3 million tonnes a year of hot-rolled coil steel by January 2014. It will also build a plant in the western Indian state of Maharashtra by December 2013, with a capacity of 1.8 million tonnes per year of cold-rolled coil. When the Gwangyang plant is completed, POSCO’s annual hot-rolled coil output will rise to 26.84 million tonnes, from 23.54 million.
ELECTRONICS
ASML expects order rise
ASML Holding NV, Europe’s biggest semiconductor equipment maker, expects capital expenditure in the industry to increase next year. Investments will rise as companies order new equipment to lower costs, chief financial officer Peter Wennink said at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona yesterday. The Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company said last month that third-quarter net income rose and reiterated that this year’s sales would advance to a record, helped by strong order intake.
INTERNET
Zuckerberg’s first site sold
The FaceMash.com Web address that landed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in trouble as a Harvard University student was sold at an auction for slightly more than US$30,000. FaceMash.com drew 10 bids, with the top contender offering US$30,201, according to a posting online on Thursday at domain name auction service Flippa. Zuckerberg was a Harvard student in 2003 when he made a FaceMash.com Web site on which people could compare pictures of coeds at the college and rate which was “hotter.” The Web site was quickly shut down by Harvard administrators unhappy with the stunt. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard and started Facebook in 2004.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Bayer plans 4,500 layoffs
Germany’s Bayer AG said it planned to cut 4,500 jobs by the end of 2012. Chief executive Marijn Dekkers said in a statement on Thursday the cost-cutting measures would put the company in a stronger position to grow. The statement said the layoffs — 1,700 of them planned in Germany — would be partly offset by the creation of an estimated 2,500 positions in emerging markets. Bayer, famous for its aspirin, but also a producer of pesticides, plastics and pharmaceuticals, currently employs about 108,700 people worldwide. The company last month reported higher revenues and net earnings for the third-quarter, with a net profit of 280 million euros (US$383.5 million) and a revenue of 8.58 billion euros for the July-September period.
AVIATION
Lockheed to close plant
Lockheed Martin Corp will close its plant that makes components for the P-3 surveillance plane in Eagan, Minnesota, by 2013 and move work from its Middle River, Maryland, site next year, resulting in at least 400 job cuts. Lockheed’s mission systems and sensors unit will shift 650 jobs from Eagan to Owego, New York, San Diego, California and Manassas, Virginia, according to a statement on Thursday. The company will also transfer work on ground vehicles from Owego to Dallas. Closing the plants will save the company US$150 million over the next 10 years.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known