UNITED STATES
Manufacturing sector grows
The key manufacturing sector last month continued to grow at an above-average rate, as the effects of back-to-back hurricanes over the summer receded, according to an industry survey released on Friday. Output spiked and employment remains strong to produce “a really strong report” on the sector, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said. The ISM’s purchasing managers’ index slowed to 58.2 percent from 58.7 in October. Any reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector.
INVESTMENT
Funds wary of megacap tech
The hedge-fund love affair with megacap tech might still be raging, but it looks like actively managed mutual funds have grown less fond of the group. “Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google [FAAMG] were five of the six stocks with the largest declines in fund positioning last quarter,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc said in a note. All told, large-cap mutual funds reduced exposure to the so-called FAAMG cohort, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs as of Sept. 30, but information technology shares at large still make up most of their holdings.
ANGOLA
Government mulls stake sale
The country plans to sell a minority stake in a state-owned telecommunications provider and hold an auction for a fourth industry operator. The government of the oil-rich west African country has received several expressions of interest from local and foreign investors in the new telecommunications license, state-owned news agency Angop said on Friday, citing Minister of Telecommunications Jose Carvalho da Rocha.
EUROPEAN UNION
Ukraine assistance withheld
The bloc on Friday said it is withholding 600 million euros (US$713.84 million) in financial assistance to Ukraine because it has not made enough progress on a wide-ranging program of reforms demanded by the bloc. The bloc has already paid out 1.2 billion euros in low-interest loans to Ukraine since 2015. However, the money is conditional on Kiev implementing reforms aimed at tackling rampant corruption, modernizing the economy and strengthening democratic structures.
TECHNOLOGY
Two Uber executives quit
Two of Uber Technologies Inc’s most senior remaining security executives on Friday resigned and another took medical leave after chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi criticized past practices, a source familiar with the situation said. Uber last week said it fired chief security officer Joe Sullivan over his role in last year’s data breach.
TECHNOLOGY
Alibaba talking to SenseTime
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) is in discussions to invest about 1.5 billion yuan (US$227 million) and become the largest backer of Chinese facial recognition start-up SenseTime Group Ltd (商湯科技), a person familiar with the matter said. Alibaba is keen on owning a sizable stake, but has no interest in exerting control over the artificial intelligence start-up, the person said. SenseTime, which says it is valued at more than US$2 billion, is incorporated in Hong Kong, but operates mainly in China.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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