British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is to announce ￡75 million (US$99.1 million) in funding for artificial intelligence (AI) and plans to put driverless cars on UK roads by 2021 in his autumn budget speech on Wednesday.
Hammond is to announce regulatory changes to allow Britain’s driverless car industry, which the government estimates could be worth ￡28 billion by 2035, to get cars on the road within as little as three years, according to extracts of the budget released by the British Exchequer yesterday.
Hammond, who is under pressure to deliver an eye-catching budget after Brexit spats with Cabinet colleagues, will also announce a ￡400 million fund for companies hoping to roll out electric-car charging points across the country.
People hoping to buy a battery-electric vehicle will also be able to access funding as Britain attempts to move toward zero-emission transportation.
With a focus on tech industries, the government is also planning to spend ￡75 million supporting companies that develop AI and ￡160 million in developing 5G technology, which it believes will be necessary for the mass rollout of driverless cars.
However, Hammond is likely to be judged more on his social spending policies, particularly on his housing policy, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, which killed 71 people.
The government is to build 300,000 new homes a year — an increase on the 217,000 built in the last fiscal year — through “billions of pounds” of investment and rules that would make it easier for construction companies to build on sites that already have planning approval, Hammond told the Sunday Times.
In a preview of Wednesday’s budget, Hammond vowed to do “whatever it takes” to get homes built and said he would launch an investigation into builders who hoard land and local authorities who block developments.
Since the spring budget, the UK’s growth outlook has not improved and interest rates rose for the first time in a decade — bad news for mortgage holders. The potential shocks caused by Brexit and a reassessment of productivity data are constraining Hammond’s room for giveaways.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS