ENERGY
Toshiba shares fall 16%
Toshiba Corp shares dropped to their lowest since May last year after a report that the loss in its nuclear business might exceed the ￥500 billion (US$4.4 billion) maximum the company had flagged to lenders. The company asked Development Bank of Japan Inc for financial support and is seeking help from other lenders, the Nikkei Shimbun cited people familiar with the matter as saying. Kyodo News agency reported the loss might reach ￥700 billion. Toshiba, which has put a writedown of its nuclear equipment business in the billions of US dollars, fell 16 percent to ￥242 in Tokyo at the close yesterday. The company said in a statement that it is still calculating the costs.
ENTERTAINMENT
Legendary CEO steps down
Thomas Tull, the founder and chief executive of Legendary Entertainment LLC has stepped down, the firm said in a statement yesterday, a year after the Hollywood studio was bought by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co (萬達集團) for US$3.5 billion. Dalian Wanda insider Jack Gao (高群耀) is to take the helm at Legendary, the producer behind hit movies like Jurassic World and the Batman Dark Knight trilogy, putting the Chinese firm more directly in control of the US studio. Legendary said in a statement Tull had “resigned,” though would continue in a role as “founding chairman.” It did not give a reason for the departure.
AVIATION
Safran to buy Zodiac
Aircraft-engine maker Safran SA agreed to buy plane-seat supplier Zodiac Aerospace SA for 8.55 billion euros (US$9 billion) in an all-French deal that would unite two of the country’s biggest aerospace groups. Safran will pay 29.47 euros per Zodiac share, a 25 percent premium to Wednesday’s closing price, the companies said in a statement yesterday. The deal is to be financed from cash reserves and with a bridging loan. The combination would unite Safran activities spanning turbines, landing gear, brakes and avionics with Zodiac’s cabin interiors, fuel, lighting, safety and power-distribution gear, according to the statement.
TRANSPORTATION
Railway CEO quits early
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd is accelerating the retirement of chief executive officer Hunter Harrison by about six months after he inquired about the possibility of working with other major freight railroads. The Calgary, Alberta-based, railroad said on Wednesday that Harrison will forfeit about C$118 million (US$88.9 million) in stock options and pension benefits as part of a separation agreement. The railroad’s president, Keith Creel, is being promoted to chief executive officer immediately. Harrison is to officially retire at the end of the month, but he is on vacation until then, so he did not take part in the railroad’s earnings conference call on Wednesday.
INTERNET
Google to buy Fabric
Google is not buying Twitter Inc, but it is buying one of Twitter’s remaining parts. Alphabet Inc’s online search division agreed to purchase Fabric, a Twitter business that provides a software toolkit for mobile apps. The companies did not disclose financial terms. For Twitter, the deal allows it to offload another asset as it faces pressure to deliver growth. For Google, which is absorbing Twitter employees working on Fabric, the acquisition is designed to help it recruit mobile developers, a key constituent, to its cloud computing service.
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
RSS