TRADE
China defends US exports
China yesterday said that it has not intentionally sought a trade surplus with the US, after US President Donald Trump called the US’ trade deficit with the country “embarrassing” and “horrible.” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) made the comments at a regular briefing in Beijing. Trump is to begin a trip to Asia today, visiting five countries, including China. He on Wednesday also told reporters that every trade deal the US has is “disastrous.”
PROPERTY
Li Ka-shing logs US$5bn sale
A landmark skyscraper owned by Hong Kong’s richest man, CK Hutchinson Holdings chairman Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), has sold for a record price of more than US$5 billion, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The rumored sale of The Center, Hong Kong’s fifth-tallest building, was first reported last month. Li’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd (長江實業) said the sale of its stake in the building had gone through for HK$40.2 billion (US$5.15 billion) — a record for a Hong Kong office tower, according to Bloomberg.
UNITED STATES
Manufacturing PMI slips
Factories grew more slowly last month, but manufacturing remains healthy. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, on Wednesday said that its manufacturing index dipped to 58.7 last month, from a 13-year high 60.8 in September. Manufacturers are on a 14-month winning streak. New orders, production, hiring and export orders all grew, although more slowly. Sixteen out of 18 industries reported growth last month, led by paper producers.
ENERGY
Shell profits triple in Q3
Royal Dutch Shell PLC yesterday said that net profit almost tripled to more than US$4 billion in the third quarter, helped largely by recovering oil prices. Profit after tax rocketed to US$4.087 billion in the three months to September, from US$1.375 billion in the third quarter of last year, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant said in a statement. The group said earnings benefited mainly from stronger refining and chemicals industry conditions, increased realized oil and gas prices, and higher production from new fields.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Qualcomm forecast robust
Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday issued a surprisingly bullish forecast for the current quarter, showing that robust demand for the company’s chips in China is making up for lost revenue from a bruising legal brawl with Apple Inc. Sales in the fiscal first quarter will be US$5.5 billion to US$6.3 billion. Earnings per share, excluding some items, will be US$0.85 to US$0.95, the San Diego-based company said in a statement.
AUTOMAKERS
US October sales fall 1.3%
Increased demand from rental car companies, strong truck and SUV sales, and recovery from hurricanes in Florida and Texas were not enough to push US auto sales into positive territory for last month. Sales for the month fell 1.3 percent to 1.35 million vehicles compared with the previous year, as slowing demand made it almost certain that this year will be the first year with declining sales in seven years, according to Autodata Corp data released on Wednesday. Ford Motor Co, Honda Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG all reported gains for the month.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
‘BASICALLY A BAN’: Sources said the wording governing H200 imports from officials was severe, but added that the regulations might change if the situation evolves Chinese customs authorities told customs agents this week that Nvidia Corp’s H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips are not permitted to enter China, three people briefed on the matter said. Chinese government officials also summoned domestic technology companies to meetings on Tuesday, at which they were explicitly instructed not to purchase the chips unless necessary, two of the people and a third source said. “The wording from the officials is so severe that it is basically a ban for now, though this might change in the future should things evolve,” one of the people said. The H200, Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chip, is one
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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