AUSTRALIA
Growth misses forecasts
The economy grew a lower-than-expected 0.6 percent in the first three months of the year and 2.5 percent on-year, data showed yesterday, confirming fears of a mining slowdown. The Bureau of Statistics said the commodities-driven economy expanded a seasonally-adjusted 0.6 percent in the March quarter and 2.5 percent from the same period last year — short of the 0.7 percent and 2.7 percent expected by analysts. It compares with 0.6 percent quarterly growth in the final three months of last year and 3.1 percent on-year, as the nation braces for a bumpy transition away from the key mining sector.
GLOBAL ECONOMY
IMF warns on slowdown
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde warned on Tuesday that the global economy may be slowing more than thought a little more than a month ago. There are “some glimpses of more somber trends. Recent data, for example, suggest some slowdown in growth,” Lagarde said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, according to the prepared text. On Tuesday, the IMF slightly lowered its growth forecast for France, a day after halving its estimate for Germany, Europe’s largest economy, to a mere 0.3 percent. Late last month, the Fund also cut its projection for China to about 7.75 percent from 8 percent.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota announces recall
Toyota Motor Corp is to recall 242,000 Prius and Lexus hybrid cars globally because of a braking problem, the company said yesterday, adding that it was not reported to have caused any accidents. Drivers of the two models, manufactured between March and October 2009, have complained they needed to step more heavily than previously on the brake pedal. A company spokeswoman in Tokyo said a materials weakness was leading to cracks that allowed nitrogen gas to leak into the brake fluid, affecting the efficacy of the brakes. Toyota will recall 117,000 units in Japan, 91,000 in North America, 30,000 in Europe and 3,000 in the Asia-Pacific region, she said.
FRANCE
Sony plant blockaded
Workers blockaded Sony Corp’s last French plant, vowing to keep it closed for at least two days in order to obtain better bonuses from the Japanese electronics giant before the factory is sold off. Unions said activity at the plant in the northeastern Alsace region had been brought to a halt as about 300 of the factory’s 516 employees had blocked the entrance to the plant. The employees are protesting Sony’s offer of a separation bonus of 2,000 euros (US$2,600), calling for a payment of 1,500 euros per year worked, with those older than age 45 or with more than 20 years of service to be paid at higher rates. Union representatives said the strike would continue to at least today, when talks with management are due to resume.
TECHNOLOGY
Google takes stance on porn
The makers of a porn app for Google Inc’s Internet-linked eyewear were modifying the software on Tuesday in response to a move by the company to keep sex off the new devices. Google evidently updated its Glass developer rules over the weekend, ahead of the release of an application on Monday by California-based MiKandi. Google guidelines posted online for Glass application developers contained a clause stating: “We don’t allow Glassware content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material.”
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
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