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).
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
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
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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