TELECOMS
Huawei to buy out venture
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies (華為) will buy out a joint venture with US security software maker Symantec by acquiring its 49 percent stake for US$530 million, the firms said yesterday. The venture, Hong Kong-based Huawei Symantec (華為賽門鐵), was set up in 2008 to provide security, storage and systems management solutions. The companies decided that having a single owner would help the Hong Kong firm to grow, Huawei and Symantec said in a statement. Enrique Salem, Symantec president and chief executive, was quoted as saying that China was one of Symantec’s fastest-growing markets and that it had exited the joint venture with a “good return.”
APPLIANCES
Electrolux to cut costs
Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB said it plans to cut costs by about 5.1 billion kronor (US$770 million) a year and will review staffing levels in all regions. Electrolux said yesterday it has been “tangibly affected” by a decline in consumer confidence in Europe and North America, while increased costs for raw materials have also weighed on earnings. It says the savings plan is estimated to provide 2.6 billion kronor more in savings than its previous plan. Measures include adapting manufacturing capacity, speeding up synergy savings, improving purchasing and reducing costs through a review of employment levels. The company said it expects the measures to cost 5 billion kronor.
BANKING
UBS names Ermotti CEO
UBS AG said its board has appointed interim chief Sergio Ermotti as the Swiss bank’s new chief executive. Ermotti had been tipped to succeed Oswald Gruebel following the German’s premature departure over a US$2 billion rogue trading loss. The 51-year-old Swiss took over on an interim basis on Sept. 24 and has since announced several reforms to the bank’s operations. Zurich-based UBS also said yesterday that board chairman Kaspar Villiger would make way for his successor Axel Weber at the bank’s shareholder meeting in May next year.
EMPLOYMENT
Google tops US students’ list
Google tops the list when it comes to where US students want to work after graduating, according to a survey released on Monday by brand specialty firm Universum. The California-based Internet firm placed among the top 10 “ideal employers” for college students in an array of majors, including liberal arts, natural sciences and information technology. Google, Apple and the Walt Disney Co, in that order, were considered the best places for business majors to work, based on the survey of 61,726 students at 345 universities.
COMMODITIES
No wrongdoing: Sino-Forest
Sino-Forest Corp (嘉漢林業), a Chinese timber firm listed in Toronto, said an independent committee found no evidence of fraud at the company, whose share price has been savaged this year following allegations by short-seller Muddy Waters. “We can categorically say Sino-Forest is not the ‘near total fraud’ and ‘Ponzi scheme’ as alleged by Muddy Waters,” Sino-Forest chief executive Judson Martin said in a statement. Sino-Forest was the largest forestry company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange until its shares collapsed in June after the fraud allegations surfaced. In the statement, Martin, a Canadian, said the committee verified the company’s cash balances, timber assets, book values and revenues. A final report by the committee should be completed by the year-end.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
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