TELECOMS
ZTE halts operations
Chinese telecom ZTE Corp (中興通訊) said its major operations had “ceased” following last month’s US ban on US sales of critical technology to the company, raising the possibility of its collapse. “Major operating activities of the company have ceased” as a result of the US decision, it said in a filing on Wednesday. ZTE, which makes telecoms equipment and handsets, is still “actively communicating” with the US side “to facilitate the modification or reversal” of the ban and “forge a positive outcome,” the filing said.
CHIPMAKERS
Qualcomm’s new buy back
Qualcomm Inc unveiled a new plan to buy back US$10 billion in stock, replacing an earlier repurchase program that was almost exhausted. The San Diego, California-based maker of cellphone chips said the plan authorized by the board has no expiration date. The previous buyback was a US$15 billion program that had US$1.2 billion remaining, it said on Wednesday. CEO Steve Mollenkopf reiterated that the company is still executing on the proposed acquisition of Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV before a July 25 deadline.
LOGISTICS
Uber to test food drones
Uber Technologies Inc plans to deliver food by drone in San Diego as part of a wide-reaching commercial test program approved on Wednesday by the US federal government, chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi said. People should expect meal delivery in five to 30 minutes, Khosrowshahi said. The US Department of Transportation said it chose 10 state, local and tribal governments and a handful of companies, including Alphabet Inc, FedEx Corp, Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Uber, to work together on commercial drone testing.
BANKING
RBS fined US$4.9 billion
Britain’s state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) yesterday said that it has been fined US$4.9 billion by the US Department of Justice over its role in the subprime crisis. RBS said it reached a deal with the department to resolve its investigation into RBS’ issuance and underwriting of US residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007. It follows a separate fine of US$5.5 billion agreed in July last year with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency over the same matter.
TAXES
Seattle enjoys sugar rush
Seattle officials say the city’s sugary beverages tax generated more than US$4 million in revenue in its first three months. Finance and Administrative Services department spokeswoman Julie Moore says the office had received more than US$4 million in first-quarter tax payments as of Friday last week. The Seattle Times reports the department expects the amount will increase because some checks were still in the mail and some businesses file their taxes annually. Seattle began taxing sugary beverages, syrups and concentrates at the beginning of this year.
PUBLISHING
Lonely Plant CEO leaves
Wunderkind Lonely Planet CEO Daniel Houghton has departed, the company confirmed on Wednesday, amid reports that the travel brand and guidebook publisher is up for sale. Houghton “has stepped away from Lonely Planet to take on a CEO role at another company,” Lonely Planet spokeswoman Natalie Nicolson confirmed by e-mail, adding that “the rest of the leadership team remains in place and will be continuing with business as usual.”
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
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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
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
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