SERVICES
Netflix splits video services
Netflix is separating its DVD rental service from its online streaming unit and apologizing for the handling of a price hike that upset many subscribers to the popular video service. Chief executive Reed Hastings made no change to the new pricing scheme, which resulted in a whopping increase for many customers, but apologized for the communications surrounding the move. Netflix announced in July that online streaming and DVD-by-mail service that previously cost subscribers US$10 per month will jump to US$16.
JEWELRY
Botswana, De Beers ink pact
Botswana and De Beers signed a 10-year deal that will see the world’s leading producer of diamonds moving its rough stone sorting and trading division from London to Gaborone, an official said on Monday. “Under the new 10-year sales agreement, De Beers has agreed to move its sorting and trading of the gems to Botswana by the end of 2013, thus ending its long-standing arrangement for such sales to take place in London,” government spokesman Jeff Ramsay said.
ENERGY
Fund to clean up Bohai spill
ConocoPhillips plans a new fund to address environmental problems in China’s Bohai Bay, following harsh criticism from marine authorities and environmentalists over oil spills in the heavily polluted sea. The Houston-based company’s announcement of the fund did not include any details regarding its size or specific uses. The company earlier said it would set up a separate fund to pay compensation for damage from the spills, which began in June in Penglai 19-3, China’s largest oil field.
MINING
Russia, Iran to mine zinc
Russia and Iran are creating a US$1.2 billion joint venture between state company Russian Technologies and Tehran state Bank Saderat to tap into Iran’s colossal zinc deposits, Kommersant daily reported yesterday. The joint venture will build a mining complex and develop the Mehdiabad mine, according to a Sept. 11 protocol from the Russian-Iranian trade commission meeting. A source close to the negotiations told Kommersant that the project is worth up to US$1.2 billion, with most funds expected to come from Iran.
CONSTRUCTION
SK, US firm to build plant
South Korea’s SK Engineering and Construction yesterday said it had teamed up with a US engineering firm to build a US$3.5 billion petrochemical plant in Egypt. The deal was signed in South Korea by executives of SK, its US partner Shaw Group and Egyptian firm Carbon Holdings, the company said in a statement. The plant capable of producing 1.35 million tonnes of ethylene a year will be built in the Ain Sokhna industrial complex 120km east of Cairo, it said. The construction will be completed in 2016.
FASHION
Prada net income up 74%
Italian luxury fashion house Prada said first-half profit surged on strong sales of leather goods such as bags and wallets to Chinese and other Asian customers. Prada said net income jumped 74 percent to 179.5 million euros (US$244 million) in the six months to July 31. Revenue rose 21 percent to 1.13 billion euros. It was Prada’s first earnings report since the company listed on Hong Kong’s stock exchange in June. The company said Asia-Pacific sales grew an “outstanding” 35.4 percent in the first half, with the Greater China region making the biggest contribution.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
RSS