SMARTPHONES
Hon Hai eyes Turkish deal
Telpa, the largest cellphone brand in Turkey, is planning to work with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to roll out handsets and tablets in Turkey, Reuters reported. Telpa chief executive Sebahattin Yaman said in the report that while Hon Hai plans to invest in Turkey to produce handsets and tablets, the firm is also considering moving production of other gadgets to the nation. Hon Hai is in talks with the Turkish government to seek investment incentives for manufacturing in Turkey, Reuters reported. The report also said Turkey plans to cut electronics goods imports and come up with measures to boost production.
ECONOMY
Eurozone fails to accelerate
The eurozone economy is failing to pick up any real momentum despite the good news that Greece has finally emerged from its six-year recession. The 18-nation currency union posted a 0.2 percent increase in output in the third quarter compared with the prior three-month period. That is not enough to make a serious dent in near-record unemployment, while few economists think it is going to get much better any time soon and might require more help from the European Central Bank. The figure reported by the Eurostat statistics agency on Friday in London was stronger than the 0.1 percent recorded in the second quarter. It equals an annualized rate of about 0.8 percent, far short of the US’ estimated 3.5 percent.
CHINA
Auto sales rise more slowly
Auto sales in the world’s biggest car market grew 2.8 percent year-on-year last month to 1.99 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement in Shanghai on Friday. The figure marked a marginal improvement from September, when they reached 1.98 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent, previous data showed, which marked the slowest growth for any month this year. In the first 10 months, sales of all vehicles — commercial and passenger — rose 6.6 percent year-on-year to 18.99 million, the association said.
ECONOMY
Belgium outlook takes hit
Fitch ratings agency on Friday revised its outlook on Belgium from stable to negative, criticizing the nation’s efforts to tackle public debt. The revision means the agency could, in the medium term, lower Belgium’s “AA” credit rating, the third-highest level. Fitch also said that Belgium’s GDP outlook “has worsened.” “The agency projects growth of 0.9 percent in 2015 [from 1.6 percent previously] and 1.1 percent in 2016. Fiscal consolidation and a weaker outlook in the eurozone are likely to weigh on GDP growth next year,” it said.
AIRLINES
UAE-Alitalia deal approved
The European Commission on Friday approved a deal that would see United Arab Emirates’ flag carrier Etihad Airways take a 49 percent stake in Alitalia, rescuing the struggling Italian flag carrier. Brussels gave the merger the go-ahead under the condition that the airlines opened up the Rome-Belgrade route to competitors. After months of negotiations, Etihad and Alitalia signed a deal on Aug. 8 for Etihad to become a shareholder in Italy debt-laden airline, in a move that would widen Etihad’s reach into the European market.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
A former ASML Holding NV employee is facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands over suspected theft of trade secrets, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said, in the latest breach of the maker of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment. The 43-year-old Russian engineer, who is suspected of stealing documents such as microchip manuals from ASML, is expected to appear at a court in Rotterdam today, NOS reported on Friday. He is accused of multiple violations of the sanctions legislation and has been given a 20-year entry ban by the Dutch government, the report said. The Dutch company makes machines needed to produce high-end chips that power
Taiwan would remain in the same international network for carrying out cross-border payments and would not be marginalized on the world stage, despite jostling among international powers, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. Yang made the remarks during a speech at an annual event organized by Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊), which oversees Taiwan’s banking, payment and settlement systems. “The US dollar will remain the world’s major cross-border payment tool, given its high liquidity, legality and safe-haven status,” Yang said. Russia is pushing for a new cross-border payment system and highlighted the issue during a BRICS summit in October. The existing system
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