CHINA
Foreign investment rises
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose 5 percent year-on-year to US$40.3 billion in the first four months of this year, lifted by funds from Asian neighbors, the government said yesterday. For last month alone FDI — which excludes investment in financial sectors — was up 3.4 percent at US$8.7 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. However, that was down from US$12.24 billion in March. “Investment from major countries and regions into China maintained a stable growth momentum,” ministry spokesman Shen Danyang (沈丹陽) said in the statement. In the January-to-April period, the top five investors included Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China’s special administrative region of Hong Kong, the ministry said. Investment from Japan plunged 46.8 percent to US$1.6 billion, it said, as a political row over disputed islands in the East China Sea, which Taiwan also claims, has made Japanese companies reluctant to pour funds into its neighbor.
PROPERTY
Deutsche Bank sells casino
Deutsche Bank AG is cutting itself free of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas resort and casino, saying it is selling the swanky but unprofitable high-rise complex on the Strip to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII for US$1.73 billion. The German investment bank said in a statement on Thursday that the cash deal remains subject to regulatory approvals. The bank had intended to sell the property from before it even opened in 2010 and had placed The Cosmopolitan in a separate bank division devoted to winding down or selling unwanted investments. Blackstone, which owns US$81 billion in real-estate assets globally, is in the business of buying underperforming property and improving it for resale.
RETAIL
Wal-Mart income hit
Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s first-quarter net income fell 5 percent as bad winter weather and financial struggles kept customers from spending at the world’s largest retailer. Wal-Mart’s latest performance appears to show that many people are having a hard time stretching their money between paychecks. The company’s shares fell nearly 2 percent as Wal-Mart reported results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for the third time in five quarters and gave a weak second-quarter earnings forecast. For the period ended April 30, the Bentonville, Arkansas, company earned US$3.59 billion, or US$1.11 per share. That compares with US$3.78 billion, or US$1.14 per share, a year ago. Wal-Mart said that bad weather hurt earnings by about US$0.03 per share. Its performance was also dinged by a higher-than-expected tax rate. Income from continuing operations was US$1.10 per share. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of US$1.15 per share, according to a FactSet survey.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Applied Materials eyes Q3
Applied Materials Inc gave a forecast for fiscal third-quarter sales that topped the low end of analysts’ estimates as it takes market share and demand for display-making machinery rebounds. Revenue in the period that ends in July will be US$2.24 billion to US$2.35 billion, based on the company’s prediction for sales to be down 5 percent to flat from the prior quarter. Analysts were estimating US$2.16 billion to US$2.46 billion and an average of US$2.32 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit before certain items will be US$0.25 to US$0.29 a share, the company said in a statement on Thursday, compared with an average projection of US$0.27.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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