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).
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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