SUPERMARKETS
JD open in Beijing
JD.com Inc (京東) has opened its first of a chain of high-tech supermarkets in Beijing, following archrival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) into the world of physical retail. The chain of “7Fresh” stores represent its biggest foray into traditional retail, and like Alibaba it is counting on reaching new customers and securing valuable data by connecting online and offline shopping. JD’s new stores and Alibaba’s Hema chain both allow shoppers to use a mobile app and digital payments.
AUTOMOBILES
BlackBerry, Baidu partner
Canadian telecommunications software company BlackBerry Ltd and China’s Web giant Baidu Inc (百度) on Wednesday announced a partnership for autonomous and connected vehicles. The two are to collaborate to accelerate the deployment of connected and autonomous vehicle technology for automotive original equipment manufacturers and suppliers worldwide, they said. BlackBerry’s operating system is to be the foundation for Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform, they added.
TELECOMS
AT&T launches 5G in US
AT&T Inc aims to be the first US carrier to provide 5G mobile service to customers this year, pitting the wireless giant against Verizon Communications Inc and T-Mobile US Inc in a costly network upgrade race to spur revenue growth. Unlike current trials using 5G technology to beam signals between stationary antennas, AT&T said in a statement it would introduce a commercial mobile service in more than a dozen US cities later this year. AT&T said it has upgraded networks in 23 cities for 5G.
AUTOMAKERS
US sales decline
Automakers on Wednesday reported the first annual decline in US sales since the end of the financial crisis, a dip offset by continued strength in sales of trucks and other large vehicles. The three leaders in the US market — General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp — all reported modest declines compared with the sales records set in 2016. The results put an end to US auto industry’s eight-year streak of increases, as the national total slipped 1.5 percent to 17.23 million, Autodata said.
ENERGY
Petrobras to settle lawsuits
Brazil’s state-run oil giant Petrobras has agreed to pay US$2.95 billion to settle lawsuits in the US over the sprawling corruption scandal that has ensnared dozens of officials and business executives across Latin America. The company on Wednesday said that the deal ends a legal battle with investors who allegedly suffered losses after a corruption probe exposed mushrooming corruption in the company. Petrobras also says it was a victim of the corruption scheme and that the “agreement does not constitute any admission of wrongdoing or misconduct” by the company.
INDIA
Services sector expands
The nation’s services sector expanded last month, reversing November last year’s decline and boosting expectations that the worst is over for the third-largest economy in Asia. The Nikkei India Services purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.9 from 48.5 in November, data showed yesterday, above the 50 mark that separates growth and contraction. The manufacturing gauge had advanced to 54.7 from 52.6, pushing up the composite index to 53 from 50.3 — the highest since October 2016.
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,
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
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
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