DENMARK
Growth forecasts cut
The government yesterday cut its growth forecasts for this year and next as Scandinavia’s smallest economy struggles to cope with international headwinds exacerbated by Britain’s decision to leave the EU. GDP will expand 0.9 percent this year, compared with a May forecast for 1.1 percent, according to government documents. GDP next year will grow 1.5 percent, versus the 1.7 percent predicted just three months ago. “Overall, the growth outlook for the international economy has been downgraded slightly following the prospect of slightly slower growth in Europe in 2017 due to Brexit,” the government said in the outlook. To deal with the economic slowdown, the minority government of Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen is planning to cut taxes across income brackets, according to a posting on his Facebook page released late on Monday.
AIRLINES
China Southern’s profits fall
China Southern Airlines Co (中國南方航空) said its profits were dented by the yuan’s depreciation while two of China’s largest private carriers reported an increase in earnings amid a surge in travel. China Southern, Asia’s biggest by passengers, also said late on Monday that it would consider breaking away from a decade-old policy of not hedging for fuel to revive earnings as nimbler and private low-fare carriers raise competition in China, where three-government owned airlines have dominated the market. A weaker yuan following the surprise devaluation in August last year cost the Guangzhou-based carrier 1.5 billion yuan (US$225 million) in currency losses, a tenfold surge. Hainan Airlines Co (海南航空) and Spring Airlines Co (春秋航空) — China’s largest budget airline — both reported an increase in profit.
TRANSPORTATION
Uber, rival halt UAE services
Ride-hailing companies grounded their services in Abu Dhabi after reports police arrested drivers and impounded cars. Uber Technologies Inc and its Middle East competitor, Careem Networks, suspended services in the capital of the United Arab Emirates for a fourth day. Police arrested 50 drivers working for limousine companies and impounded 70 cars, Abu Dhabi-based The National reported late on Sunday. Mohamed al-Qamzi, general manager of TransAD, the city’s taxi regulator, said the companies had on occasion contravened regulations by offering trips at a lower price than licensed limousines, the newspaper reported. Uber and Careem described the suspension as temporary, without providing a reason for the halt. Uber said none of its drivers were arrested.
AVIATION
AirAsia to sell leasing unit
AirAsia Bhd expects to sell its aircraft-leasing unit as early as December as the largest customer for Airbus Group SE’s single-aisle jets aims to net as much as US$1 billion from the transaction and pare debt. Proceeds from the sale may be used to reduce debt or pay a dividend, chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said yesterday in a Bloomberg Television interview with Yvonne Man. AirAsia’s board approved the sale process for all or a substantial part of the unit, Asia Aviation Capital Ltd, the carrier said in a filing on Monday. “Depending on who’s the buyer, and there seems to be tremendous interest, we’ll likely divest all or maybe keep a minority interest for a period and sell out,” Fernandes said. The company named RHB Investment Bank Bhd, Credit Suisse Group AG and BNP Paribas SA as advisers for the transaction.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
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