AVIATION
Korean Air, Delta hold talks
Korean Air Lines Co is in talks with Delta Air Lines Inc for a joint venture in a move that would give the second-largest US carrier a bigger foothold in Asia, where rising incomes are fueling a boom in air travel. Details of the partnership would be disclosed later, Korean Air president Walter Cho yesterday told reporters at a briefing in Seoul’s Incheon Airport, declining to elaborate. Atlanta, Georgia-based Delta, which has said it will rely on tie-ups in Asia to improve connectivity to the region’s largest economies, is extending an existing pact with Korean Air beyond code-sharing. While a joint venture would provide the US carrier a hub in Seoul and help it compete with other US rivals, its partner could get greater access in North America as South Korea prepares to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
TRADE
Japan hosts first RCEP talks
Negotiators from 16 Asia-Pacific countries yesterday held their first round of free-trade talks since hopes faded of reaching a separate regional deal after the US pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The five-day Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) talks in Kobe are being attended by senior officials from the 16 countries involved, a Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official said. The US is not part of RCEP, which has been pushed by China. Apart from Beijing, the planned pact would group the 10 members of ASEAN and India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The TPP had been seen as an economic guarantee of US commitment to the region in the face of the growing influence of China, which was not a member. RCEP is seen as a more modest deal that calls for lower and more limited regulatory standards.
SPAIN
Inflation exceeds ECB limit
Inflation accelerated further above the European Central Bank’s (ECB) price stability mandate, coinciding with an increase in utility bills. Consumer prices, calculated using an EU-harmonized method, rose 3 percent this month from a year earlier, according to preliminary data released by the Madrid-based National Statistics Office. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted an increase of 3.1 percent. The euro area’s fourth-largest economy is has recorded one of the region’s fastest inflation rates that by far exceeds the ECB’s goal of just under 2 percent.
TECHNOLOGY
Ericsson betting on cloud
Ericsson AB is betting on cloud technology to capture as much as possible of the US$1.2 trillion market it expects 5G mobile broadband services to spur, chief executive officer Borje Ekholm said. “5G is really starting to happen,” Ekholm said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. “What we’re starting to see is operators positioning their 4G networks and starting to evolve into 5G.” 5G services are not expected to be commercially available until 2020. In the meantime, Ericsson has signed development agreements with more than 30 carriers, and some, like Verizon Communications Inc and its closest rival AT&T Inc, are preparing for trials of the new technology. Verizon last week said it will work with equipment partners, including Ericsson and Samsung Electronics Co, to test faster 5G mobile broadband service in 11 markets in the first half of this year.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
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