TELECOMS
Japan to sell Nippon stake
The Japanese government plans to sell a 3 percent stake in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp for about ¥184 billion (US$2.2 billion) to boost state finances, the Nikkei Shimbun said yesterday. NTT, a former state monopoly and Japan’s largest telephone company, retired 7.97 percent of its shares outstanding earlier this month, boosting the government’s stake to 36.6 percent from 33.7 percent. By law, the government must hold at least one-third of NTT’s shares and it plans to sell holdings in excess of that threshold, the newspaper said. NTT plans to buy the shares from the government through an off-floor exchange platform, preventing the stock from being released on to the market, the Nikkei said. No one at the finance ministry in charge of the matter was available for comment. NTT could also not be reached for comment.
TRADE
US, EU weight in on Doha
The US and the EU promised on Saturday to use their considerable economic weight to try to secure a successful conclusion to the Doha round of global trade negotiations next year. US President Barack Obama held two hours of talks with EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lisbon, with both sides emphasizing the importance of their economic relationship. They reaffirmed a commitment made at the G20 summit in Seoul this month to promote balanced growth and avoid competitive currency devaluations that can lead to global imbalances, and underlined the critical importance of bolstering trade.
BRAZIL
Ministry to increase budget
The Planning Ministry has proposed increasing the country’s spending this year by 18.6 billion reais (US$10.8 billion) and cutting its GDP primary surplus target to 3.1 percent as Latin America’s largest economy accelerates growth. The proposal would pare the country’s budget surplus before interest payments by 0.2 percentage point, from 3.3 percent, after excluding state-controlled Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA from the fiscal accounting, according to a report released on Friday. The ministry recommended a 8.6 billion reais increase in “discretionary spending” and a 10 billion reais increase in “execution of extraordinary credits,” after the country had a $31.9 billion reais extraordinary gain from state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s share sale. The ministry increased its domestic growth forecast for this year to 7.5 percent, from 7.2 percent in a report two months ago, while keeping its inflation forecast at 5.1 percent.
ENERGY
Oil firms to reject Ecuador
A pair of international oil firms are set to reject new contracts offered by Ecuador’s government as part of the OPEC member’s bid to increase state revenue from the sector, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said on Saturday. Tomorrow is the deadline for executives to sign new deals that would throw out profit-sharing arrangements in favor of flat-fee service contracts. The government says companies that do not sign the new pacts would have to leave the country. The leftist leader did not mention any companies by name, but several firms, such as Brazil’s Petrobras and two companies controlled by China’s top oil and gas company, CNPC (中國石油天然氣), have balked at the terms being offered. Other oil companies involved in the negotiations include Spain’s Repsol-YPF and Italy’s Eni.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
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