SOLAR PANELS
Suntech in bankruptcy court
Suntech Power Holdings Ltd (尚德電力), one of the world’s biggest solar panel manufacturers, was forced into bankruptcy court on Wednesday, becoming the latest casualty of a painful slump in the global solar industry. Suntech Power said eight Chinese banks asked a court to declare it insolvent after the company missed a US$541 million payment to bondholders last week. Suntech said it would not oppose the petition. “While we evaluate restructuring initiatives and strategic alternatives, we are committed to continuing to provide high-quality solar products to our global customer base,” Suntech chief executive officer David King (金緯) said in a statement.
CHINA
Manufacturing picks up
The nation’s manufacturing rebounded modestly this month after dipping during the country’s biggest public holiday the month before, a survey showed yesterday, in a sign of gradual recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy. HSBC’s preliminary version of its purchasing managers’ index for this month rose to 51.7 on a 100-point scale. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. The reading “implies that the Chinese economy is still on track for gradual growth recovery,” HSBC’s chief China economist Qu Hongbin (屈宏斌) said in a statement.
MINING
Rare earths found on seabed
Japanese researchers said yesterday they have found a rich deposit of rare earths on the Pacific seabed, with reports suggesting it could be up to 30 times more concentrated than Chinese reserves. Mud samples taken from 5,800m below the waves contained highly concentrated amounts of the precious minerals, which are vital for high-tech manufacturing and used in products including wind turbines and iPods. Scientists believe the seabed contains about 6.8 million tonnes of the materials, the equivalent of 220 to 230 years worth of rare earths used in Japan.
TECHNOLOGY
Oracle reports flat Q3
Oracle Corp on Wednesday reported flat earnings for its fiscal third quarter, hurt by a drop in sales of hardware systems and new software. Shares tumbled in after-hours trading on the weaker-than-expected results. Revenue from new software licenses and online subscriptions fell 2 percent year-on-year to US$2.3 billion. The company had predicted that number would rise by 3 percent to 13 percent. Sales of hardware systems products dropped 23 percent.
SHIPPING
FedEx cuts profit forecast
Global package delivery giant FedEx on Wednesday reported lower quarterly earnings and slashed its profit guidance for this fiscal year, citing weakness in the international freight market. FedEx reported net income of US$361 million for the third quarter that ended February 28, down 31 percent from a year earlier. Revenue rose 4 percent to US$11 billion, about US$100 million below the firm’s forecast.
AIRLINES
Lufthansa hit by strikes
German airline Lufthansa said yesterday it has canceled more than 670 European flights owing to warning strikes by ground staff and other divisions within the group. Already on Wednesday, Lufthansa had said it would cancel most of its domestic and short-haul flights between 5am and midday local time at the airports of Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne as well as several other locations.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
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