AUTOMAKERS
US probes Nissan recall
US regulators are looking into whether a recall last year by Nissan Motor Co, Japan’s second-largest automaker, failed to fix a flaw in the air-bag control systems on almost 1 million vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a query on Wednesday last week, citing 124 complaints filed by motorists after the recall began in April last year, according to a notice posted on the regulator’s Web site. Some drivers alleged the flaw persists after multiple repairs by dealers. Nissan recalled 989,701 vehicles last year, saying the software may incorrectly classify the passenger seat as empty when it is occupied by an adult. This may lead to a failure of the air bag to deploy during a crash and could increase the risk of injury to the passenger, according to a filing with the regulator by the Yokohama, Japan-based carmaker.
TRANSPORT
India paper invests in Uber
Uber Technologies Inc said the publisher of India’s most-read English newspaper has taken a small stake in the ride-hailing application company as part of a strategic partnership to support its expansion. The deal with Times Internet Ltd will help increase the marketing and distribution of Uber’s services to more than 200 million consumers in India, the US company said in a statement on its blog, without giving details of the investment. Times Internet is a fully owned unit of Bennett, Coleman & Co, the flagship company of the Times of India Group and publisher of the newspaper. Uber counts India as its biggest market outside the US and the fastest growing globally. Baidu Inc (百度), China’s largest Internet search engine, in December agreed to invest in Uber.
TELECOMS
Micromax seeks investors
Micromax Informatics Ltd., the Indian smartphone maker threatening Samsung Electronics Co’s lead in the world’s second-largest market, plans to raise more capital to help it break away from foreign rivals. The closely held company is considering outside investment to develop locally focused software to complement mobile phones already available in 21 local languages, CEO Vineet Taneja said. Micromax expects to hit US$2 billion in sales in the fiscal year that ends this month, Taneja said, up from US$1.2 billion last year. “It will be critical to differentiate ourselves through something beyond the hardware,” Taneja said in an interview at the company’s New Delhi headquarters. “The Internet services space does require money because it requires investment, new capabilities and strategic partnerships.” Micromax became one of India’s top two smartphone vendors by offering affordable devices tailored to a market where carriers typically do not subsidize phones and dozens of languages are spoken.
SECURITIES
China to ease foreign rules
China is considering sweeping changes to its securities industry that would allow foreign banks to control their local joint ventures and broaden their offerings, people with knowledge of the matter said. Overseas firms could be allowed to own majority stakes in local ventures as soon as this year, and they may ultimately be able to take full control, the people said. Regulators also plan to give foreign-owned joint ventures permission to expand into areas beyond stock and bond underwriting, they said, asking not to be named as the deliberations are private. Easing restrictions that currently limit overseas banks to 49 percent ownership will let them more effectively compete with incumbents such as Citic Securities Co (中信證券).
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
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