GERMANY
CETA opponents overruled
The nation’s highest court has rejected calls from opponents of a EU-Canada trade deal for an injunction that had the potential to spell an end to the pact. The Federal Constitutional Court yesterday ruled against the complaints against the trade deal with Canada, known as CETA. Tens of thousands of citizens joined in two of those complaints. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who is also minister of the economy, had warned putting off CETA’s signing could effectively torpedo the accord.
UNITED KINGDOM
London home building slows
Sales of London homes under construction dropped 14 percent in the third quarter as uncertainty surrounding the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU hurt demand already dented by higher taxes. The number of residences sold before completion in the period fell to 4,830 units from 5,636 a year earlier, according to a report by researcher Molior London seen by Bloomberg News. A spokesman for Molior declined to comment.
SHIPPING
Court to outline Hanjin sale
A South Korean court plans to publish a notice in local newspapers as early as today, detailing its plan to sell the marketing network of Hanjin Shipping Co’s Asia-US operations as part of efforts to raise funds for the indebted company. The Seoul Central District Court’s notice will provide information including the bidding schedule and deadline for submission, a court spokesman said yesterday. The court expects to sign an agreement on the sale by the middle of next month, he said.
MANUFACTURING
B&D to buy Newell tools
Stanley Black & Decker (B&D) Inc on Wednesday agreed to buy Newell Brands Inc’s tools business for US$1.95 billion in cash, helping the workshop giant push deeper into consumer and industrial equipment. Stanley will gain the Irwin, Lenox and Hilmor brands as part of the transaction, which is expected to add US$0.15 to earnings within a year of its completion. The division generated US$760 million in revenue over the past 12 months, according to Newell. It makes everything from industrial saw blades to screwdrivers.
RETAIL
Uniqlo recovery predicted
Fast Retailing Co yesterday forecast full-year operating profit will improve 37 percent as the owner of the Uniqlo casual-wear chain recovers from a slump in the last fiscal year by committing to lower prices to win back customers. Operating income is likely to be ￥175 billion (US$1.7 billion) in the fiscal year ending August next year, compared with ￥127.3 billion in the previous period, the Yamaguchi, Japan-based company said in a statement. That is in line with the ￥174.9 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
AVIATION
Cathay shares dive
Shares in Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) yesterday plunged more than 5 percent after it scrapped its profit outlook for the second half of the year, citing competition and overcapacity. The Hong Kong-based firm said it no longer expected business to improve in the latter half of the year — a departure from its previous forecast. Net profit for the first six months of the year stood at HK$353 million (US$45.5 million). Shares in the company were trading as low as HK$10.16 per share, down 5.58 percent from Wednesday’s close.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
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.
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
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