INTERNET
FTC approves Skype bid
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is letting software giant Microsoft Corp proceed with its largest deal ever, an US$8.5 billion bid for Web chat and call service Skype. The FTC announced on Friday that it had finished its review of the buyout so it could proceed if the US Department of Justice also approves. Both agencies must review any deal worth more than US$65.2 million, according to the FTC. Microsoft already has a Skype-like service called Windows Live, but Skype lets users of different kinds of computers and phones chat directly. The deal could enable Microsoft to sell more digital advertising and offer more popular business conferencing tools. Microsoft’s bid is more than three times Skype’s value 18 months ago when eBay Inc sold a two-thirds stake to private equity firm Silver Lake.
RUSSIA
WTO bid faces big hurdles
Moscow’s accession into the WTO could be delayed by several years if there is no agreement on key issues by the end of next month, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Elvira Nabiullina said on Saturday. Moscow aims to become a member of the trade group in December, but Nabiullina said that the outstanding issues included agriculture, the nation’s car assembly regime and controls on the import of food and livestock. “We need to agree with our partners on three large issues before the end of July. If we do not manage to do it, from my point of view, the process might take some more years,” she told reporters at St Petersburg Economic Forum.
FINLAND
Finance minister announced
Social Democrat leader Jutta Urpilainen will become finance minister in the new six-party coalition, which has pledged to cut spending and raise some taxes. Announcing that the party had named her to the post on Saturday, Urpilainen said her main job was to secure the future of the welfare state by curbing spending and borrowing. “The outgoing government has left us a budget deficit of around 8 billion euros [US$11 billion] and the pace of borrowing is not sustainable,” Urpilainen said. She reiterated that Helsinki would demand guarantees against participation in any new bailouts for euro area countries.
AVIATION
Airbus delays A350 debut
Airbus SAS delayed introduction of its largest A350 wide-body aircraft by 18 months to meet demands for additional range and payload that will put the jet into more direct competition with Boeing Co’s 777-300ER. Rolls-Royce PLC, the sole engine supplier on the jet, will improve the performance of the Trent XWB engine by enlarging the core and working with more advanced technologies, the two companies said at a joint press conference on Saturday in Paris. The A350-1000 aircraft, which seats about 350 people, will cost US$9 million more than the previous design and come out in 2017. Airbus aims to crack the near monopoly of Boeing’s 777, which debuted in the 1990s, and the European manufacturer said its new A350-1000 will be 25 percent more fuel efficient and can carry 4.5 tonnes of additional weight. The change on the A350 coincides with the European airplane maker challenging Boeing in the single-aisle market with new, more efficient engines for its A320 jet.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said. The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs. The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company
RSS