JAPAN
Inflation up, but still wanting
Consumer prices rose last month, official data showed yesterday, but inflation was still way below the central bank’s target, as authorities struggle to slay deflation in the world’s third-biggest economy. After stripping out volatile prices for fresh food, inflation was 0.7 percent, the eighth straight month of price rises and in line with market expectations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. Excluding fresh food and energy, prices edged up just 0.2 percent compared with a year earlier.
VIETNAM
Growth exceeds 7 percent
Growth accelerated in the third quarter to more than 7 percent, with the economy on track to remain among the world’s fastest. GDP rose 7.46 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, compared with a revised 6.28 percent in the previous three months, the General Statistics Office said yesterday. The economy expanded 6.41 percent in the nine months through this month, compared with the 6.1 percent that economists estimated.
UNITED STATES
Fastest growth in two years
The economy grew at an upgraded annual rate of 3.1 percent in the April-to-June quarter, the fastest pace in more than two years. However, growth is expected to slow sharply this quarter in the wake of a string of devastating hurricanes. The expansion in GDP is up slightly from a 3 percent estimate made last month, the Department of Commerce said on Thursday. It is the strongest performance since the economy grew at a 3.2 percent pace in the first quarter of 2015. The upward revision reflected larger farm stockpiles.
BANKING
Fitch downgrades Deutsche
Deutsche Bank AG had its long-term credit grade cut one level by Fitch Ratings as the lender struggles to through another strategic overhaul. The German bank’s grade was reduced to “BBB+” from “A-,” while its outlook was set at “stable,” Fitch said in a statement on Thursday. The lender will take “some time” to reach its earnings targets, the ratings company said. Deutsche Bank had its weakest quarterly revenue in three-and-a-half years in the second quarter, the lender said.
BROKERAGES
Haitong to add jobs in HK
Haitong International Securities Group Ltd (海通國際證券), a unit of China’s second-largest brokerage, plans to add about 100 jobs in Hong Kong as it seeks to draw more of the nation’s growing ranks of multimillionaires to its wealth management business. The firm said it is focused on strengthening its group of relationship managers specialized in ultra-high net worth clients with at least US$10 million. The new hires will take place over the next 12 months and boost the number of sales staff in private wealth management to 160, it added.
AUTOMAKERS
Investor rips into Tesla
Tesla Motors Inc, a perennial target of short sellers, is “structurally unprofitable” with a “way too leveraged” capital structure, famed investor Jim Chanos said on Thursday. Chanos, who bet early on energy company Enron Corp’s failure, said the electric car maker run by Elon Musk is behind on autonomous driving technology and rushed the Model 3 to market to appease investors. SolarCity Corp, the solar installer Tesla acquired in a controversial deal last year, is about a US$1 billion drain to shareholders annually, he said.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
INFLATION WATCH: A rate hike in March would help keep inflation at 2.16 percent this year, although a weak currency and higher electricity rates are an issue, S&P said Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings have reaffirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit ratings at “As3” and “AA+” respectively with a stable outlook on the back of high income and wealth levels, a strong institutional framework and robust external positions. The affirmations came as Taiwan’s economy is gaining momentum after quarters of slowdown induced by stubborn global inflation and monetary tightening. Taiwan’s strong fiscal and external buffers have improved relative to peers as evidenced by recent shocks linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing US-China technology dispute, the two ratings firms said. “Taiwan stands as the epicenter of the global semiconductor supply chain, accounting
RIDING AI WAVE: : Most of its NT$15bn capital budget would be spent on packaging technologies used in AI and HPC chips and advanced testing technology, it said Chip testing and packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (PTI, 力成科技) plans to increase this year’s capital expenditure by 50 percent to expand capacity to meet growing demand for advanced memorychips used in artificial intelligence (AI) products. The company proposed to spend NT$15 billion (US$460.94 million) to expand advanced capacity and equipment, compared with a budget of NT$10 billion it planned three months ago. “We are seeing a recovery in market demand as well as new business opportunities. We will spend heavily on advanced packaging” equipment, Powertech chief executive officer Boris Hsieh (謝永達) told investors on Tuesday. “We will focus on ramping