TECHNOLOGY
PCs preferred for buying
The latest Gallup survey found that most Americans ditch their smartphones and return to the trusty computer when buying online. The survey released on Tuesday showed that 74 percent of US adults with smartphones usually turn to their computers for making purchases on the Internet. The situation is similar when browsing products online or comparing prices: 62 percent do so on their computers, while only 21 percent use their smartphones. The survey was conducted via the Internet in April and May, polling 15,776 US adults who said they had a smartphone.
REAL ESTATE
UK house prices rise
UK house prices last month surged the most in five months as a shortage of property for sale continued to put upward pressure on values. The average cost of a home rose 1.7 percent from May to an average of ￡200,280 (US$308,500), mortgage lender Halifax said yesterday. From a year earlier, prices jumped 9.4 percent. On a less volatile quarterly basis, prices rose 3.3 percent in the second quarter, an increase from 2.7 percent in the first quarter.
TRADE
US deficit expands
The US trade deficit widened in May, fueled by a drop in exports that could heighten concerns over weak overseas demand and a strong US dollar. However, the increase in the trade gap to US$41.9 billion, announced on Tuesday by the US Department of Commerce, was less than analysts had expected. That suggests Wall Street economists, who expected a US$42.6 billion deficit, might raise their forecasts for economic growth slightly in the second quarter. The US economy contracted at a 0.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter.
TRADE
Canada’s trade gap widens
Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$3.3 billion (US$2.6 billion) in May due to a drop in exports, the Canadian statistics office said on Tuesday. The deficit, which increased 10 percent from C$3 billion in April, surpassed analysts’ forecasts of C$2.5 billion. Overall, exports declined to C$42 billion in May, the fifth consecutive monthly decrease, according to Statistics Canada.
RETAIL
Aeon eyes Tesco Malaysia
Japan’s Aeon Co Ltd is interested in buying the Malaysian operations of Britain’s Tesco PLC, valued at about ￡900 million, people familiar with the matter said. Buying Tesco’s operations would make Aeon Malaysia’s biggest hypermarket group. The Japanese retailer has 28 hypermarkets in the country and plans to open 100 more stores in various formats by 2020. Aeon also owns 51.7 percent of Aeon Co M Bhd, which has 29 outlets and four MaxValu supermarkets in Malaysia.
AUTOMAKERS
SUV to boost sales: Tesla
Tesla Motors Inc’s new Model X sport utility vehicle (SUV) should double the company’s sales volume, CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday at the annual Allen & Co media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. Tesla is counting on the new SUV, scheduled for launch this quarter, to reach its goal of selling 55,000 all-electric vehicles this year. The company delivered 21,552 cars in the first half of the year, or about 40 percent of the its overall goal.
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
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
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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