GERMANY
Industry boom prior to Brexit
German industrial production increased in June, signaling that Europe’s largest economy gained momentum ahead of the UK’s Brexit vote. Production, adjusted for seasonal swings, rose 0.8 percent from the previous month, when it dropped a revised 0.9 percent, data from the Ministry for Economic Affairs showed yesterday. The reading, which is typically volatile, compares with a median estimate for a 0.7 percent gain in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Output was up 0.5 percent from a year earlier. Siemens, Europe’s biggest engineering company, raised its forecast for full-year earnings last week after reporting a 6 percent increase in orders in the three months through June, and Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann has said there is no indication that Britons’ vote to quit the EU has changed prospects of a growth pick-up in the third quarter.
COMMUNICATIONS
Qualcomm signs Vivo deal
Qualcomm Inc, which has struggled to get paid licensing revenue in China, said it signed up phonemaker Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃移動通信), helping cement its position in the world’s largest phone market. Vivo, the third-biggest smartphone maker in China, agreed to pay Qualcomm for technology used in 3G and 4G telephones, the US chipmaker said. The deal with Vivo comes a week after Qualcomm secured a similar agreement with GuangDong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動). The two companies account for about 30 percent of phones shipped by the top ten Chinese phonemakers.
NEW ZEALAND
Landcorp to stop kernel feed
State-owned farming company Landcorp yesterday said it would stop using palm kernel products to feed its animals as it seeks to take better care of the environment. The company announced it would stop using the products by the middle of next year. Environmentalists have linked growth in the palm oil industry to rainforest destruction in Indonesia, which in turn is contributing to the decline in species like the Sumatran tiger. Landcorp chief executive Steven Carden told reporters that consumers worldwide are willing to pay a premium for natural products, including grass-fed meat and dairy. “We are really concerned with producing food in a responsible and environmentally friendly way,” Carden said. He said the change also made sense from a strategic and commercial viewpoint.
CONSTRUCTION
Vinci to build Peru road
Vinci SA, Europe’s largest construction company, plans to acquire a concession to build and operate a toll road in Peru’s capital for about 1.5 billion euros (US$1.7 billion), betting that Lima’s clogged up road systems will generate demand. The French builder is to take over toll-road operator Lamsac and its PEX electronic-toll operator from Brazilian owner Investimentos & Participacoes em Infraestrutura SA, the Rueil-Malmaison, France-based company said in a statement yesterday. Closing of the deal is expected in the second half. The purchase comes as part of Vinci’s strategy to expand in Latin America, as well as an overall rise in revenue from highways that helped increase first-half profit by 12 percent. Chief executive officer Xavier Huillard said July 29 concession work performed better than expected in the six-month period. Faced with a sluggish economy at home in France, Vinci is expanding in emerging markets where infrastructure spending is more critical.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
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