MINING
Return to work delayed
Workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc’s Indonesia unit delayed their return to work after a three-month strike because 500 employees at subcontractors lack job security, a senior union official said yesterday. The workers hope to resolve the dispute and start heading back to the Grasberg mine in the central highlands of Papua Island, today, union spokesman Virgo Solossa said by telephone. The strike at the world’s second-largest copper mine ended on Dec. 14 with a deal under which Freeport agreed to a pay increase of about 40 percent for about 8,000 union members and to a framework for a better deal for about 15,000 other non-union workers and contractors.
BRAZIL
Budget cut set to increase
The government could cut about 60 billion reais (US$32.1 billion) from this year’s budget, more than previously forecast, as it seeks to reach its primary budget surplus target, O Estado de S. Paulo reported, citing unidentified people at the Ministry of Finance. Officials had previously said 50 billion reais would be cut from the budget, the Sao Paulo-based newspaper reported. The government is aiming for a primary budget surplus of 3.1 percent of GDP this year, Estado said.
INDONESIA
Inflation slowdown continues
Inflation slowed for a fourth straight month last month to the lowest level since March 2010, an easing that could give the central bank scope to cut interest rates further. Consumer prices rose 3.79 percent last month from a year earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics said in Jakarta yesterday, compared with the 3.86 percent median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Inflation was 4.15 percent in November. Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution and his board left the nation’s benchmark interest rate at 6 percent last month after cuts in October and November.
INDIA
Airline subsidy mulled
The Ministry of Civil Aviation said that airlines operating unprofitable flights to remote destinations might be given subsidies to help boost regional connectivity without affecting the carriers’ finances. The ministry recommended setting up a 1 billion rupee (US$19 million) fund to provide financial assistance, according to a report to the Planning Commission, an agency that drafts five-year economic and social programs. The commission’s 12th five-year plan will run through 2017. Airlines offering regional connectivity at the lowest cost to passengers could become eligible for a subsidy from the fund, the ministry said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Teva CEO to stand down
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd announced that its chief executive Shlomo Yanai will step down in May. The company said in a release on Sunday that Jeremy Levin, a former senior executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb, would replace him. Yanai has been chief executive for five years. Teva said he took the company from the business of mainly generics with US$8.4 billion in annual revenue to a more diversified business with revenue this year expected to reach US$22 billion. The company said Yanai wanted “to move on to a new phase in his career.” Israeli media reported that Yanai, a former general, could become active in politics. Teva is the world’s largest generics drugmaker. It also makes branded drugs for multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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