ECONOMY
Chinese deflation risk rises
China’s annual inflation fell sharply to 1.8 percent last month, the lowest in 18 months, official data showed yesterday, raising concerns about the risk of deflation in the world’s second-largest economy. It was the weakest reading since October 2012, when the statistic stood at 1.7 percent, and a decline from 2.4 percent in March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Last month’s figure was well below the 3.5 percent annual target set by Beijing and is likely to add to worries that deflation could be looming as Chinese growth slows.
TRADE
Exports dent German surplus
Germany’s trade surplus narrowed in March as a drop in exports from Europe’s largest economy outpaced a drop in imports. The Federal Statistical Office reported yesterday that Germany exported goods worth 91.6 billion euros (US$127.81 billion) in March, down 1.8 percent from February, according to provisional figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar fluctuations. It was the largest monthly drop since May last year. Imports dropped 0.9 percent to 76.7 billion euros. That put the surplus at 14.8 billion euros, down from 15.7 billion in February.
CURRENCIES
US limits bitcoin donations
The US Federal Election Committee (FEC) said on Thursday that the virtual currency bitcoin could be used for donations to political action committees under certain conditions. In a unanimous vote, the FEC, which enforces US campaign finance laws, said a political committee could accept donations in bitcoins up to an individual limit of US$100 for each election cycle and could also purchase bitcoins. However, the advisory opinion said the committee “must sell the bitcoins it purchases and deposit the proceeds into its campaign depository before spending those funds.”
TECHNOLOGY
Sony to close ebook stores
Sony Corp is to shutter its ebook Reader Store in Europe and Australia following a similar pullout in North America, the company has said, as the once-mighty electronics giant redirects its focus. Users of the company’s tablets and smartphones are to be transferred by next month to the Kobo ebook system operated by Tokyo-based online retailer Rakuten Inc, the company said in a statement issued on Thursday. Reader Store will shut down on June 16 in Europe and Australia, while it will continue operating in Japan, it said.
FINLAND
Germany joins shipyard plan
Finland’s government said on Thursday it seeks to team up with German shipbuilding company Meyer Werft to negotiate the takeover of a troubled shipyard in Turku owned by South Korea’s STX. Helsinki has been working for a year to save the shipyard, which STX is threatening to close. In February last year, Finland’s government announced a 31 million euro subsidy for the shipyard, which has suffered as orders have fallen.
RUSSIA
Coca-Cola to close factories
US beverage giant Coca-Cola Co is to close two fruit-juice factories in Russia in the coming months because of falling demand, a company spokesman said on Thursday in New York. The plants belong to its Russian subsidiary Nidan, which Coca-Cola acquired in 2010. One plant is in Moscow and the other in Novosibirsk, Siberia. The closures will impact about 1,000 employees.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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