JAPAN
Deregulation a priority: Abe
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday said that deregulation was the government’s priority growth strategy and that he would continue to push forward his economic policies. “I acknowledge deregulation is the priority for our growth strategy. As I decided to join talks of the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership], I would like to push forward what needs to be done without hesitation,” Abe said. He added that he expected the financial markets to calm down gradually as the Bank of Japan was communicating with the markets. The benchmark Nikkei tumbled to a six-week low yesterday, extending its slide from a five-and-a-half-year high touched on May 23.
MACROECONOMICS
S Korea CPI edges up 1%
South Korea’s inflation touched a 14-year low last month on falling fuel costs and stabilizing food prices, government data showed yesterday. The consumer price index (CPI) for last month rose 1 percent from a year ago — the slowest rate since September 1999 — state-run Statistics Korea said. It marked the seven straight month that inflation has stayed under 2 percent. Annual inflation in April stood at 1.2 percent. Core inflation gained 1.6 percent from a year earlier and 0.4 percent from April.
MACHINERY
Orders in Germany up 8%
Rising demand both at home and abroad gave Germany’s key mechanical engineering sector a boost in April, fueling hopes it can put its weak start to the year behind it, the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) said yesterday. Incoming orders rose 8 percent in April compared with April last year, with domestic orders rising by 6 percent and export orders up as much as 10 percent.
IT SERVICES
Murthy return boosts Infosys
Shares of Indian outsourcing giant Infosys rose as much as 9.02 percent yesterday, as investors cheered the return of co-founder Narayana Murthy, hopeful he would revive the company’s flagging fortunes. Infosys rose to an intraday high of 2,624.9 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange, reacting to the development. On Saturday, Infosys reappointed Murthy as executive chairman of the firm, two years after he retired.
INTERNET
Amazon Germany on strike
Workers at online retailer Amazon’s German operations yesterday staged a third one-day strike over pay. Union ver.di called on staff at Amazon’s distribution centers in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld to cease work yesterday in a bid for higher wages and better benefits. The union says Amazon’s roughly 5,300 workers at the sites receive less than their peers in the online retail industry. It says starting salaries at the two distribution centers currently range between 9.30 and 9.83 euros (US$12.10 to US$12.78) an hour.
AVIATION
Larger Dreamliner coming
Boeing announced on Sunday it had started building its 787-9, a longer version of its 787 Dreamliner, looking to leave the jet’s problems behind. “The newest member of the 787 family began taking shape on schedule May 30 in Everett, Washington, when Boeing started joining large sections of the super-efficient jet,” the aircraft giant said in a statement. The 787-9 can carry 250 to 290 passengers — 40 more than the 787-8, which started operating in September 2011 — across an additional 300 nautical miles (555km) while using 20 percent less fuel than airplanes of the same size.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
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
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an iPhone assembler for Apple Inc, is to spend NT$5.64 billion (US$186.82 million) to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factories in Taoyuan and invest NT$578.57 million in its India subsidiary to expand manufacturing capacity, after its board approved the plans on Wednesday. The Taoyuan factories would expand production of consumer electronics, and communication and computing devices, while the India investment would boost production of communications devices and possibly automotive electronics later, a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Pegatron expects to complete the Taoyuan factory transaction in the third quarter, said the official, who declined to be
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