ELECTRONICS
Samsung-Apple war spreads
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said yesterday it would seek a ban in France and Italy on sales of Apple’s newly released iPhone, in the latest round of its legal battle with the US technology giant. A spokesman for Samsung warned that it was “virtually going into an all-out war” with Apple as the two computer giants continue to row over copyright infringements. Samsung said in a separate statement it would file preliminary injunctions in the two countries to ban sales of the iPhone 4S, citing what it called two patent infringements regarding mobile technology. The company said it would also file preliminary injunctions in other countries “after further review.”
AUTOMAKERS
Honda to cut Japan exports
Honda Motor intends to slash its exports from Japan by about half over the next decade as it looks to cope with a high yen, its president said in an interview published yesterday. He added the Japanese automaker would focus on smaller vehicles at home in order to boost domestic sales in the near term. “Battered by such appreciation of the yen, the company sees clearly that Japan can no longer be the world center of its production and exports,” Honda president Takanobu Ito told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. “Honda currently exports 30-40 percent of its domestic production, but it is hard to sell overseas while fretting over currency movements,” he said.
RETAIL
Tesco reports profit increase
Tesco PLC, the world’s third-largest retailer, reported a 16 percent increase in net profit for the half year ending Aug. 27 despite a drop in sales in its main British market. Tesco yesterday reported a net profit of ￡1.38 billion (US$2.13 billion) for the period, up from ￡1.18 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 7.8 percent to ￡31.8 billion pounds. Sales excluding gasoline and sales tax fell half a percent in Britain, reflecting a broader retrenchment in consumer spending. Tesco recently launched a “Price Drop” campaign to shore up its dominant market share in Britain of around 30 percent.
FOOD
Yum Brands posts strong Q3
KFC parent Yum Brands Inc reported a quarterly profit that met Wall Street’s expectations, helped by another quarter of strong sales in China. China — the world’s fastest-growing major economy — is Yum’s biggest earnings driver, accounting for just more than 40 percent of overall profits. Yum’s third-quarter net income rose to US$383 million, or US$0.80 per share, from US$357 million, or US$0.74 per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, Yum’s profit was US$0.83 per share, matching analysts’ average estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose to US$3.27 billion from US$2.86 billion a year earlier.
COMMODITIES
Nickel Asia resumes mining
The Philippines’ top nickel producer, Nickel Asia Corp, has resumed operations at its biggest nickel mine, Taganito, in Surigao del Norte province, after a raid by rebels early this week and expects to ship ore in the next three weeks, its chief said yesterday. Nickel Asia, partly owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Corp, said it does not expect a big reduction in shipment tonnage this year, adding it has started buying new equipment to replace damaged machinery. However, the company cannot determine yet if there would be delays in the 2013 target to complete a new US$1.4 billion nickel processing plant adjacent to the mine.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
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