AUTOMAKERS
Chrysler to recall vehicles
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is doing a second recall of 703,000 minivans and SUVs with a defective ignition switch that can rotate out of position, similar to the faulty General Motors Co part tied to dozens of deaths. The action covers the 2008-2010 Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Journey, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document posted on its Web site on Friday. The company previously tried to fix the switch defect, which can lead vehicles to stall, lose power and disable their air bags, in recalls announced in 2011 and last year. GM’s ignition-switch defect, now linked to 57 deaths in crashes, led to the recall of 2.59 million small cars.
INTERNET
Google planning VR Android
Internet giant Google Inc is making a version of its Android operating system to power virtual reality (VR) apps, the Wall Street Journal reported. The California-based company has set up a team of “tens of engineers” to build the version of the operating system that can be integrated in future devices, the Journal said on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the project. It added that Google plans to distribute it for free, much as it did with Android in a move that made it the most popular operating system for smartphones. However, Google’s project faces fierce competition from Facebook Inc, owner of virtual reality headgear star Oculus Rift, among others. The technology made headlines early in the week as headgear makers took center stage at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
STEELMAKERS
China’s steel exports drop
Steel exports from China, the world’s largest producer, fell for the first time in six months as new tax rules for some shipments began to slow sales. The country shipped 7.8 million tonnes of steel products last month, down 24 percent from 10.29 million tons the previous month, according to data released yesterday by the customs administration in Beijing. The government canceled export-tax rebates starting on Jan. 1 for alloys that contain the chemical element boron as part of its efforts to cut oversupply in the industry. The slowdown comes after shipments by the country that accounts for about half the world’s steel output surged to a record last year amid weak domestic demand. China has set its economic growth target for this year at about 7 percent, down from last year’s goal of about 7.5 percent. Steel prices fell more than 4 percent this year in Shanghai after plunging 27 percent last year.
CENTRAL BANKS
Oil prices hurting Canada
The impact of plunging oil prices is hitting Canada’s economy earlier than expected and might lead to disappointing first-quarter growth, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said in an interview with the Globe and Mail. Canada’s central bank chief said economic growth in the first quarter might be weaker than the 1.5 percent annualized rate the bank anticipated in January, while second-quarter growth would exceed the central bank’s 1.5 percent projection. Poloz said Canada’s economy experienced the initial effects of the oil-price decline in the fourth quarter, which was earlier than he expected. The earlier-than-anticipated impact of oil’s slide might mean the economic slowdown is front-loaded, although the Bank of Canada has not formally adjusted its projections for the first half, the Globe reported, citing Poloz.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
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
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