Toyota Motor Corp, which traditionally makes a majority of its profit in the US, will outline a strategy for growth in emerging markets in a 10-year plan the Japanese automaker is set to release this week, two people familiar with the plan said.
Toyota also plans to cut two vice chairman positions and shrink its board to 17 or fewer members as part of the biggest management shakeup in eight years, according to two people who declined to be identified as the plan is private.
Former president Katsuaki Watanabe will become an advisor without a board vote, and former head of research and development Kazuo Okamoto will move to an affiliate, the people said.
Company president Akio Toyoda will present a “Global Vision 2020” plan on Wednesday to help boost sales a year after the carmaker’s biggest recall crisis. As part of its focus on emerging markets, the carmaker introduced the Etios compact in India in December, which will be modified for sale in China, Thailand and Brazil.
Executive vice president Yukitoshi Funo has dubbed the Etios as the “21st Century Corolla,” a reference to its best-selling compact model. Investors and analysts have called on Toyota to reveal more about plans for next--generation models, shifting production away from Japan and boosting sales of luxury models. The automaker made about 60 percent of its operating profit from North America in the nine-months ending Dec. 31, according to its financial statement.
Toyota’s slimmer board may help it adapt to challenges and changes in the global industry quickly, the people said.
After a global financial crisis and recalls of more than 8 million cars for problems linked to unintended acceleration, Toyota has fallen behind rival Honda Motor Co in terms of profit and operating margin. The company has said it plans to keep capital investments little changed for at least the next five years to cut costs.
With Volkswagen AG aiming to surpass Toyota as the world’s largest carmaker by 2018, and competitors including General Motors Co and Hyundai Motor Co also gaining ground, management has been divided over whether it should be more aggressive or remain cautious, said two Toyota group executives, who declined to be identified.
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
China has threatened severe economic retaliation against Japan if Tokyo further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, complicating US-led efforts to cut the world’s second-largest economy off from advanced technology. Senior Chinese officials have repeatedly outlined that position in recent meetings with their Japanese counterparts, people familiar with the matter said. Toyota Motor Corp privately told officials in Tokyo that one specific fear in Japan is that Beijing could react to new semiconductor controls by cutting the country’s access to critical minerals essential for automotive production, the people said, declining to be named discussing private affairs. Toyota is among
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