REAL ESTATE
Wanda to invest in India
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s (王健林) Dalian Wanda Group Co (萬達集團) agreed to invest US$10 billion to build an industrial zone in India, in what could become one of the biggest development projects in the country. Wanda Group, China’s biggest commercial property developer, signed a preliminary agreement with the northern Indian state of Haryana to build an industrial zone, the company said yesterday. The first phase of the development zone spans 13km2 and construction might begin this year. Details of the spending were not immediately available.
AEROSPACE
Boeing to cut 747-8 output
Boeing Co on Thursday said it plans to cut production of its 747-8 cargo airplane in half in September due to a slowdown in the air freight business. Boeing said it would record a US$569 million charge against fourth-quarter earnings. Instead of producing one 747-8 per month, Boeing plans to turn out one every other month. The firm had previously announced it would cut 747-8 production from 1.3 airplanes per month to one from March.
INVESTMENT
NTT DoCoMo eyes start-ups
NTT DoCoMo Inc’s venture capital arm is looking at start-ups involved with drones, artificial intelligence or financial technology as potential investment targets, as Japan’s largest mobile phone operator searches for growth industries. The investment arm is planning to spend about ￥8 billion (US$67.7 million) on start-ups over the next three years, NTT DoCoMo Ventures chief operating officer Nobuyuki Akimoto said on Thursday in Tokyo. NTT DoCoMo Ventures has disclosed investments in 42 companies and exited from eight.
ENERGY
Oil prices hit Santos sales
Santos Ltd, Australia’s third-biggest oil and gas producer, yesterday reported a 24 percent drop in fourth-quarter sales and flagged asset write-downs after a further decline in oil prices since its November last year announcement of a A$3.5 billion (US$2.5 billion) program to cut debt. Quarterly sales fell to A$828 million from A$1.09 billion a year earlier, the Adelaide-based company said. Output dropped 1 percent to 14.9 million barrels of oil equivalent, and spending decreased 43 percent to A$477 million.
INTERNET
IBM acquires Ustream
IBM Corp has boosted its Internet cloud offerings with the takeover of live video streaming services firm Ustream Inc. IBM did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition announced on Wednesday, but said it would enable the company to expand the array of cloud-based services it can provide to businesses or broadcasters. San Francisco-based Ustream specializes in streaming live or on-demand video. IBM said that Ustream delivers video to about 80 million viewers monthly for customers such as NASA, Facebook Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and The Discovery Channel.
UNITED STATES
Unemployment claims rise
The number of people in the US filing for unemployment benefits rose to a six-month high last week, suggesting some loss of momentum in the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 293,000 for the week ended on Saturday last week, the highest reading since early July last year, the US Department of Labor said. It was the second straight week of gains and confounded economists’ expectations for a drop to 278,000.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
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