BANKING
Qatar bank pushes gold
Doha Bank QSC expects to sell a record 200 million riyals (US$53 million) of gold this year as consumers take advantage of lower prices and investors seek a haven from falling equities and weakening currencies. The bank, the first lender authorized to import and sell gold in Qatar, took in 23,818 ounces in the first seven months of this year compared with 15,830 ounces in the same period last year, Samuel K.V, head of treasury trading and product management, said in a phone interview from Doha on Sunday. Sales were worth 110 million riyals this year, he said. Demand is expected to rise due to the “big volatility in the Chinese stock market and currency” and the possibility of a delayed interest rate increase by the Fed. Gold declined 0.5 percent to US$1,154.55 an ounce yesterday after rallying 4.1 percent last week.
TECHNOLOGY
Speculation spurs shares
Sharp Corp surged in Tokyo trading after the Asahi newspaper report spurred optimism the company would spin off its LCD business and sell a stake to electronics assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密). Sharp was the best performer on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, surging as much as 5.4 percent to ￥175 before trading at ￥171 as 12:30pm local time. That compares with a 4 percent plunge in the Nikkei 225. Sharp is also considering selling its stake in a factory co-owned by Hon Hai, the Taiwan-based assembler of iPhones, video game consoles and tablet computers, the Asahi reported, without saying where it got the information. Sharp, a supplier of LCD panels to Apple Inc, had an operating loss of ￥28.8 billion (US$23 billion) for the three months ended June 30.
TECHNOLOGY
Netflix, Softbank team up
Netflix Inc and Softbank Group are considering a content partnership for the video streaming service set to start in Japan on Sept. 2. Softbank is also to sell Netflix subscriptions in the country through its retail shops, the two companies said in a statement in Tokyo yesterday. The service is to range from ￥650 to ￥1,450 per month (US$5.41 to US$12.07). Netflix has already partnered with Fuji Media Holdings Inc to produce a drama for the service’s debut, the first time for the US-based company to launch in an overseas market with local content. The world’s largest online subscription video service will compete with Hulu’s Japan business, owned by Nippon Television Holdings Inc and streaming services offered by NTT Docomo Inc and Softbank’s own Uula.
ECONOMY
Denmark GDP prediction cut
Denmark’s new government cut its forecasts for economic growth this year and next year, and predicted wider budget deficits than were seen under the previous administration. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen sees GDP expanding 1.5 percent this year, compared with 1.7 percent estimated by the Social Democrat-led coalition that was ousted in June elections. GDP is to expand 1.9 percent next year, also less than the 2 percent previously foreseen, according to a Finance Ministry document seen by Bloomberg. The economy grew 1.1 percent this year. Slower growth is to coincide with wider budget deficits than had been predicted before the June election, with the shortfall now seen at 2.7 percent of GDP this year, more than twice the 1.3 percent previously estimated. The gap is to widen to 2.8 percent next year, the Finance Ministry document showed.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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