TRANSPORTATION
Uber to tout public transport
Ride-hailing app Uber yesterday said it was joining a global public transport association to improve mobility in the cities it operates in. Uber also said it was joining the International Association of Public Transportation (UITP) to connect more people to public transport. Aligning the company with public transport authorities is a good way to make Uber a better partner for cities, Uber head of transportation policy and research Andrew Salzberg said. UITP represents public transport providers around the world, including Transport for London, which in September stripped Uber of its operating license.
INTERNET
Facebook expands UK staff
Facebook Inc is to hire 800 new staff in London, expanding its UK headquarters despite coming under increasing scrutiny from the nation’s lawmakers. The new hires — predominately in engineering roles and to be recruited over the next year — would bring the number of staff working for Facebook in the UK to 2,300. Facebook’s expansion comes at a time when Britain is so alarmed by the extent and scale of Russian interference in UK politics via social media networks that its lawmakers are getting ready to interrogate Silicon Valley giants — including Facebook and Twitter Inc — in Washington.
GAMBLING
Crown hit with class action
Australian gambling giant Crown was yesterday hit with a class action after 18 employees were arrested in China, alleging it did not give shareholders enough information about the risks being taken. The employees, who pleaded guilty, were held for 10 months on charges of luring rich Chinese to Australia, before being released in August. The case hurt the James Packer-controlled casino operator’s high-roller revenues, with anti-corruption laws in China banning organizing gambling activities overseas for wealthy Chinese. Class action specialists Maurice Blackburn Lawyers said the case on behalf of hundreds of investors centered on a sharp share price drop of almost 14 percent when news of the arrests emerged.
UNITED STATES
NAFTA rewrite impact feared
Economists expect a tax overhaul to provide a modest boost to the US economy, but are increasingly worried that a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would take a toll on growth. A National Association of Business Economics (NABE) survey found that forecasters expect tax law changes to add 0.2 percentage points of growth to the US economy, down slightly from what they expected in the previous NABE survey in September. The survey was taken from Nov. 6 to Nov. 15, before the Senate passed a major tax overhaul early on Saturday. Forty-six percent of 51 panelists believe the renegotiation of NAFTA would do at least some damage to the US economy, up from 27 percent in September.
CHINA
Banking stress indicator falls
A warning indicator for banking stress in China fell for a fifth straight quarter, signaling that Beijing’s drive to squeeze risk from the financial system is making progress. China’s credit-to-gross domestic product “gap” declined to 18.9 percent in the second quarter from 22.1 percent in the first three months of this year, according to data released on Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements. That is down from a high of 28.8 percent in the first quarter of last year.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
RSS