SMARTPHONES
Samsung sparks on flight
A Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone emitted smoke and sparks on a flight from Singapore to southern India, budget carrier IndiGo said. The mobile was found in the bag of a passenger in an overhead compartment after other passengers reported smelling smoke in the airplane, IndiGo said. It said there was no fire, but sparks and smoke were emanating from the device. The smartphone is to be examined to determine the cause of the incident, the airline said. Samsung said it had been informed of an incident in India involving the Galaxy Note 2, which uses a replaceable battery and was released in 2012.
EUROZONE
PMI falls to 20-month low
A closely watched survey showed that economic growth across the 19-country bloc has fallen to a 20-month low. Financial information company IHS Markit Ltd on Friday said its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) — a broad gauge of economic activity — across the single-currency bloc fell to 52.6 this month from 52.9 the previous month. A figure above 50 indicates expansion. A more detailed look showed the services sector is having a particularly disappointing month, but manufacturing expanded at its fastest pace since December last year.
MINING
Chalco to buy back stock
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco, 中國鋁業) is to pay shareholders a premium to buy their stock in its Hong Kong-listed unit Chinalco Mining Corp International (CMC, 中鋁礦業國際) as it moves to take the division private. The HK$1.39 per share offer is a 32.4 percent premium over the unit’s closing price of HK$1.05 on Sept. 14, its last trading day, or 33.7 percent more than its average share price over the past 30 trading days, the company said in a statement on Friday. The move to privatize CMC will make it easier for Chalco to raise funds for its unit’s Toromocho copper mine in Peru, which started operations in December 2013.
OIL
Exxon mulls sale of fields
Exxon Mobil Corp is considering a sale of some of the oil fields it operates in Norway’s North Sea in a deal that could fetch more than US$1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said. Exxon, the world’s biggest listed oil company, is not running a formal process, although it has had discussions with potential buyers, the people said. The company operates the Ringhorne, Balder, Sigyn and Jotun fields in Norway, which produced the equivalent of 64,000 barrels of oil per day last year. Exxon spokesman Tore Revaa said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation about commercial matters.
HOTELS
Marriott completes deal
US hotels giant Marriott International Inc on Friday announced it had completed its takeover of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc, creating the world’s largest hotel company. Shareholders in both companies had in April voted to approve the takeover after Chinese insurer Anbang Insurance Group Co (安邦保險集團) abandoned efforts to acquire Starwood. “The new company will operate or franchise more than 5,700 properties and 1.1 million rooms, representing 30 leading brands from the moderate-tier to luxury in over 110 countries,” Marriott said in a statement.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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