MINING
Billiton profits drop 5.5%
Billiton yesterday posted a 5.5 percent fall in first-half profits to US$9.94 billion, largely due to volatility in commodity prices. The interim result in the six months to Dec. 31 last year was nevertheless one of the largest in Australian history and compared to the record US$10.5 billion it booked in the previous corresponding period. Revenue increased 9.7 percent to US$37.48 billion from US$34.17 billion previously. Iron ore and petroleum were the standout performers, with aluminum, base metals, nickel and diamonds among the worst.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung eyes ‘smart TVs’
Samsung Electronics yesterday said it plans to sell more than 25 million “smart TVs” this year as it tries to capture the emerging Internet TV market. The firm hopes to fill more than half of its planned global flat-screen TV sales of 50 million this year with Internet-enabled, interactive TVs, said Kim Hyun-suk, head of the firm’s TV business. Samsung’s latest smart TV recognizes human voices in about 30 languages to turn itself on or off, switch channels or adjust volume. It also recognizes hand motions and offers about 1,500 applications.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Illumina rejects Roche offer
Illumina Inc’s board unanimously rejected Roche Holding AG’s US$5.7 billion bid to take over the maker of gene-mapping tools as “grossly inadequate.” “The timing of the offer is blatantly opportunistic and does not reflect Illumina’s strong platform of new products and pipeline,” chairman William Rastetter and CEO Jay Flatley said on Tuesday in a letter to shareholders. Roche went directly to shareholders of California-based Illumina in a hostile bid after the company rebuffed its approaches. The Switzerland-based drugmaker yesterday said it was “disappointed” with Illumina’s response.
ENTERTAINMENT
Walt Disney income up 12%
The Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday that its net income rose 12 percent in the final quarter of last year, as a slimmer movie slate and upbeat theme park results helped it top earnings forecasts even while revenue gains were less than expected. Net income in the October through December period rose to US$1.46 billion, or US$0.80 per share, from US$1.30 billion, or US$0.68 per share, a year earlier. Revenue in the company’s fiscal first quarter ticked up 1 percent to US$10.78 billion from US$10.72 billion. Fees paid by distributors of ESPN rose, but advertising revenue at ESPN and broadcast network ABC was flat, the firm said.
REAL ESTATE
Beijing office rents beat NY
Office rents in Beijing are more expensive than New York after rising 75 percent last year as China’s rapid economic growth sparked strong demand, Cushman & Wakefield said. Beijing is now in fifth place for the world’s most expensive office space, with New York’s midtown Manhattan coming sixth, the company said in its 2012 rankings released this month. The top spot was captured by Hong Kong, followed by London and Tokyo.
TELECOMS
Nokia cutting 4,000 jobs
World-leading mobile phone maker Nokia plans to cut 4,000 jobs at its smartphone manufacturing facilities in Finland, Hungary and Mexico by the end of this year. “The expected headcount impact by country is 2,300 in Komarom [Hungary], 700 in Reynosa [Mexico] and 1,000 in Salo [Finland],” spokesman James Etheridge said yesterday.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
RSS