AUTOMObiles
Takata to recall inflators
The manufacturer of air bags linked to four deaths made another 30,687 inflators with an incorrect part which could lead to similarly damaging ruptures in newer vehicles, US regulators said, adding to questions about the scope of the defects in Takata Corp products. Takata plans to recall the SDI-X inflators manufactured from June 16, 2008, to June 20 this year, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Saturday in a statement on its Web site. An incorrect outer baffle could cause the unit to rupture, the agency said. The defective inflators were in General Motors Co (GM) and Nissan Motor Co models the automakers decided to recall in June and last month respectively, according to documents on the Web site and an e-mail from Takata spokeswoman Alby Berman. GM recalled 29,019 Chevrolet Cruze small cars from model years last year and this year. The new recalls pertain to vehicles newer than those covered by the broader Takata actions, which involve products from the 2000 through 2008 model years.
EMPLOYMENT
Amazon staff 37% female
Amazon.com Inc said women make up 37 percent of its total global staff and 25 percent of its managers, showing a more diverse workforce than many Silicon Valley technology companies. Of the online retailer’s US workforce, 15 percent are black and 9 percent are Hispanic, while 73 percent are white or Asian, the Seattle-based company said on its Web site on Friday. Amazon’s report follows disclosures by other technology companies this year indicating that workforces in the industry are predominantly male and often white or Asian. Diversity reports from Facebook Inc, Google Inc and Twitter Inc showed that women make up about 30 percent of staff and blacks about 2 percent. Amazon’s numbers are similar to those at e-commerce rival EBay Inc, where women make up 42 percent of its staff and 7 percent of its US employees are black. Amazon had about 117,000 employees at the end of last year.
CONSTRUCTION
Citigroup clients eye Boston
Clients of a Citigroup Inc unit backing the construction of New York’s tallest apartment building are funding a new project in Boston. The firm has finished raising money from clients of its private bank to invest in a 60-story tower being built in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, according to a person briefed on the matter. The wealthy individuals invest directly in the project and returns are set to be based on proceeds from the sale of about 180 condominiums in the building, the person said. The residential tower also plans to include a hotel managed by Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, the person said, requesting anonymity because the details of the project have not been finalized. Saudi billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Co owns stakes in Four Seasons and New York-based Citigroup.
BANKING
BNP to take ECB loan
BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest bank, plans to borrow from the European Central Bank (ECB) through its program of targeted long-term loans, BNP chief financial officer Lars Machenil said. The low-cost funds are aimed at spurring banks to lend and stimulating growth. The ECB plans a second auction of loans in its targeted longer-term refinancing operations next month after banks borrowed 82.6 billion euros (US$104 billion) last month, less than economists had estimated. Italian and Spanish banks were among the leading borrowers in September.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
RSS