ELECTRONICS
Samsung builds Xian plant
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics yesterday said it had started building a new US$7 billion chip plant in Xian, China — its biggest-ever investment in the country. The plant, scheduled to come on line in 2014, will produce advanced 10-nanometer-class NAND flash memory chips used for devices such as smartphones and computers, the firm said in a statement on ground-breaking day. The world’s largest memorychip maker said earlier that the plant would produce 10,000 12-inch wafers a month. It also started a program to collaborate with researchers.
JAPAN
Machinery orders rise 4.6%
The country’s core machinery orders jumped 4.6 percent on-month in July, official figures showed yesterday, beating market forecasts, despite tough times for the nation’s manufacturers. The rise in the machinery orders, which are seen as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, marked the second straight monthly increase and was well above economists’ expectations of a 1.4 percent rise. Machinery orders rose 5.6 percent in June. The data are watched for movements that may reflect the outlook for the broader economy.
SOUTH KOREA
Unemployment stays at 3.1%
The country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.1 percent last month from a month earlier, despite a slowdown in job creation, official figures showed yesterday. Statistics Korea said 364,000 new jobs were created last month from a year earlier, weaker than July’s 470,000 increase. The unadjusted jobless rate was put at 3 percent, slightly down from the July figure of 3.1 percent.
INDIA
Industrial output flat in July
The country’s industrial output was virtually flat in July from a year earlier, official data showed yesterday. Manufacturing, mining and electricity production grew just 0.1 percent, compared with market expectations of a 0.5 percent rise and well off the 3.7 percent seen in July last year. However, July’s small output rise was an improvement on the 1.8 percent contraction in June. Manufacturing output, which accounts for three-quarters of the Index of Industrial Production, shrank 0.2 percent from a year earlier in July, according to government figures.
GERMANY
Inflation rises to 2.1%
Rising energy prices pushed inflation in the country last month, above the threshold set by the European Central Bank, official data showed yesterday. Inflation stood at 2.1 percent year-on-year last month, national statistics office Destatis said in a statement, slightly revising higher its initial estimate made on Aug. 29. In July, the 12-month inflation rate had stood at 1.7 percent. On a monthly basis, the cost of living in Germany rose by 0.4 percent last month from July, also a fractional revision upward from the initial estimate.
UNITED STATES
Bailout sees US$15.1bn profit
The government has raked in US$15.1 billion in profits on its massive rescue of insurer AIG, the Treasury said on Tuesday in a rebuff to critics of the 2008-2009 bailout of the finance industry. The massive AIG rescue deal, using US$182 billion of taxpayer funds to save the foundering insurer, finally turned a profit after the Treasury sold off 636.9 million shares on Monday to private investors and the company itself, raising US$20.7 billion. The share sale cut the Treasury’s majority shareholding in the company to 15.9 percent.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
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