STEELMAKERS
Companies lay off 10,000
ArcelorMittal Ltd and other steel firms on Thursday said they have laid off 10,000 workers in Mexico and warned that thousands more are at risk if the government fails to curb “unfair imports.” The global steel giant and Mexican firms DeAcero, Altos Hornos de Mexico and Tubacero took out a full-page newspaper advertisement urging Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to impose temporary tariffs on countries with no trade deals with Mexico. They also asked for new foreign trade measures to make sure the industry is protected.
CANADA
GDP to contract: banks
The Canadian economy is likely headed for recession, two major banks said on Thursday, predicting a successive contraction in the second quarter. Canada, the world’s fifth-biggest oil producer, has been hit hard by tumbling global oil prices and its economy shrank by 0.6 percent at an annualized rate in the first quarter. Nomura bank said it expected the GDP to contract by 0.5 percent in the second quarter, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch said a 0.6 percent decline in that period was likely.
UNITED STATES
Unemployment hits low
Unemployment fell to a seven-year low of 5.3 percent and employers hired at a solid pace last month, but other gauges of the job market drew a bleaker picture: A wave of people stopped looking for work, and paychecks failed to budge. The figures released on Thursday showed the economy gained 223,000 jobs last month, and unemployment edged down from 5.5 percent in May, the Department of Labor reported. That is the lowest jobless rate since April 2008, when it was 5 percent.
CHIPMAKERS
Intel’s James to leave firm
Intel Corp on Thursday said that president Renee James, who has worked at the chipmaker for 28 years, plans to leave the company early next year to seek a CEO role elsewhere. James has agreed to stay with Intel until January next year to oversee the transition of her responsibilities and is to be paid US$4 million to do so, according to a filling with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Intel did not disclose which CEO role James is pursuing. James was named president of Intel two years ago.
INTERNET
Yahoo teams up with Google
Yahoo Inc is working with Google Inc on a test that would use Google’s search results and advertisements on its site. If successful, the trial could result in a larger search deal between the companies. Yahoo confirmed the initiative in a statement, while declining to comment further. The company’s search is currently powered by Microsoft Corp’s Bing. The two companies renegotiated their agreement earlier this year, giving Yahoo more freedom over how it makes money from ads on search.
UKRAINE
IMF reaches agreement
The IMF on Thursday said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on the policies needed for the global financial institution to disburse US$1.7 billion under a loan program. The IMF, which awarded Ukraine a new four-year support program in March, said the agreement is subject to approval by its management and executive board.
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
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
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
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
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