AVIATION
US probes air carriers
US federal prosecutors on Wednesday said they had begun an investigation into possible collusion among the airlines to limit seating, two years after the US Department of Justice approved the latest in a wave of airline mergers, saying that the combination would benefit consumers. In letters sent to airlines, prosecutors have asked for documents from the last two years related to statements and decisions they have made about limiting capacity on flight routes. By making it harder for passengers to find seats, airlines could limit competition and increase fares. The inquiry, which appears to be in its early stages, is a significant shift for a department that in November 2013 cleared the way for the merger of American Airlines and US Airways, after initially filing a suit to oppose it. The merger, opposed by consumer advocates, created the world’s largest airline.
INTERNET
PayPal set to buy Xoom
PayPal, the online payments company weeks away from an expected spinoff from eBay, took a leap into the growing digital money transfer business on Wednesday by acquiring Xoom, a big player in the field. PayPal is set to spend US$25 per share in cash to acquire the publicly traded Xoom, or about US$1.09 billion. Excluding Xoom’s cash and short-term investments and including its debt, PayPal is to spend about US$890 million. Xoom is part of a wave of upstarts challenging traditional money transfer businesses like Western Union in the enormous global remittances market, which is valued at about US$600 billion this year by the World Bank.
AVIATION
Tokyo adds robot staff
Tokyo’s Haneda Airport plans to lease 11 robots in September that would clean the facilities and carry baggage. Authorities said if the robots are good at the work then more airports around the nation would hire them. “I want to expand it to all other airports in Japan and also to airports worldwide,” Japan Airport Terminal Co president Isao Takashiro said. The airport operator leased the robots from Cyberdyne Inc, the two companies said in a statement yesterday. Robots are invading Japanese workplaces as companies grapple with an aging and shrinking labor force. About 26 percent of Japan’s 127 million population are aged over 65, the highest percentage among the top seven industrialized nations. The robots introduced yesterday resemble wet-dry vacuums or motorized stools rather than people.
CHEMICALS
DuPont spinoff created
When DuPont Co announced plans to spin off its major chemical operations in October 2013, it said the move would create a cash-generating dynamo with the leading market share in most of its businesses. The spinoff was to let DuPont focus on higher-value products such as solar-panel materials and genetically modified crop seeds, as well as alternatives to fossil fuels. The new company, Chemours, created on Wednesday, inherited 37 active plants globally that produce materials such as titanium dioxide, a pigment that adds opaqueness to paints, and fluorochemicals such as Teflon nonstick coatings. DuPont investors have been given one Chemours share for every five DuPont shares they own. Chemours is to owe DuPont a US$4 billion dividend for share buybacks. Chemours shares, which have been trading since June 19, have fallen 21 percent.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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