STOCKS
Samsung SDS set for listing
Samsung SDS has set a preliminary price for its share listing, valuing the firm at about 15.47 trillion won (US$14.88 billion), a person with direct knowledge of the matter said ahead of what may be South Korea’s biggest listing this year. The sale of shares in Samsung SDS, the IT services affiliate of Samsung Group, could raise at least 1 trillion won, local media have reported. A spokesman for Samsung SDS said the firm is expected to list sometime in November, but declined to provide more details. The sprawling Samsung Group, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, is restructuring its complex ownership ahead of an eventual generational succession. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Chairman Lee Kun-hee, 72, the group patriarch, has been hospitalised since suffering a heart attack in May.
ZIMBABWE
IMF says no to Harare loans
The IMF has scotched suggestions that the cash-strapped country could get fresh financial aid, saying it must first service old debts. Domenico Fanizza, a senior official at the IMF’s Africa department, said the Washington-based lender “by its law” could not give more support until President Robert Mugabe’s government makes up missed repayments. The country is saddled with debts of more than US$10 billion, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of Ministry of Finance figures, and has stuttered in making repayments.
STOCK MARKETS
WSE freezes merger idea
The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), central Europe’s leading market, on Tuesday said it has decided to put the brakes on a possible merger with its Vienna-based counterpart. “Following an in-depth analysis of available options of regional growth and taking into account the high growth potential of the Polish economy and its capital market, WSE has decided to focus on organic growth at this time,” the exchange said in a statement. “Therefore, WSE is not considering a capital alliance with [the Vienna-based] CEE Stock Exchange Group AG at this time,” it added, while leaving open the option of a merger somewhere down the line.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai staff strike for pay
About 40,000 Hyundai workers have launched a partial strike over a wage row fuelled by union anger at the South Korean carmaker’s US$10 billion bid for a plot of land in Seoul. Workers at the main Hyundai plant in the southern city of Ulsan and others across the country walked off their jobs for two hours on Tuesday and yesterday, a union spokesman said. “We plan to extend it to four hours beginning Thursday,” the spokesman told reporters. The partial strike — the second in a month — came amid stalled negotiations over whether regular bonuses should be considered part of the basic wage that is used to calculate rates for overtime, holiday shifts and pensions.
SMARTPHONES
BlackBerry to launch phone
BlackBerry was set to launch an unconventional new smartphone dubbed the Passport yesterday, as it embarks on potentially the most critical phase of its long turnaround. The one-time smartphone industry pioneer recently concluded a three-year-long restructuring process and has largely halted the bleed, but it is now up to chief executive John Chen (程守宗) to prove that the company’s new devices and services are capable of generating sustainable new streams of revenue and returning it to profitability.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
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