COMMUNICATIONS
Samsung profits slip
Samsung Electronics Co expects its second-quarter earnings to be “not that good,” chief financial officer Lee Sang-hoon said. The company is expected to post operating profit of 8.4 trillion won (US$8.2 billion) in the three months ending June, according to the average of 35 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung’s earnings have slipped from a record 10.2 trillion won in the third quarter of last year as sales of its Galaxy devices are squeezed by Apple Inc iPhones in the high-end market and inexpensive Chinese producers in the budget segment.
FRANCE
Growth is disappointing
France’s state statistics agency dealt a blow to French President Francois Hollande’s government on Tuesday as it said the economy would grow less then predicted this year and unemployment would rise. The INSEE statistics agency said the French economy would grow by only 0.7 percent this year, lower than a government prediction of 1 percent. It said unemployment would rise in the second quarter by 0.1 point to 9.8 percent and stay at that level until the end of this year. France’s economy grew by only 0.4 percent last year.
GERMANY
Consumers more confident
Consumer confidence in Germany is rising again, buoyed by the European Central Bank’s recent decision to cut interest rates, a new poll found yesterday. Looking ahead to next month, market research company GfK’s headline household confidence index was forecast to rise to 8.9 points next month from 8.6 points this month. For the past four months, the index has stagnated.
UTILITIES
Paris selling GDF Suez stake
France’s cash-strapped government on Tuesday put its 3.1 percent stake in energy giant GDF Suez up for sale, in a bid to raise funds to buy a controlling stake in Alstom. At the close, GDF Suez shares stood at 20.8 euros, valuing the sale at 1.56 billion euros (US$2.1 billion). The proceeds from the sale of 75 million shares to selected investors “can be used to finance the state’s purchase of a stake in Alstom,” France’s economy and finance ministers said in a statement.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota launches fuel cells
Japanese auto giant Toyota will start selling its first fuel cell sedan this financial year, with a price tag of around ￥7 million (US$70,000), the company announced yesterday. The vehicles will be rolled out by March and beyond the home market during the summer of next year, it said, in a move that will see the environmentally friendly cars available in the US and Europe. This is the first time Toyota has given a specific timeframe for its fuel cell cars, which it had previously said would go on the market next year.
FINANCE
Briton sentenced for fraud
A former senior Credit Suisse investment banker was sentenced on Tuesday in New York for hiding US$100 million in losses on sub-prime mortgage bonds in the 2007 US housing market collapse. David Higgs had already pleaded guilty in 2012 to charges of falsifying the Swiss bank’s records, and agreed to cooperate in the probe of several Credit Suisse officials, and so was sentenced to time served, the US Justice Department said. The British citizen was also ordered to pay nearly US$1 million in fines and forfeiture of gains.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
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