MANUFACTURING
Foxconn to break ground
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) plans to officially break ground for its southeastern Wisconsin manufacturing complex on June 28, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Friday. The Taiwanese electronics giant plans to build a US$10 billion flat-screen manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The state Department of Natural Resources last month approved air permits and gave permission for the facility to pull millions of liters of water daily from Lake Michigan.
AUTOMAKERS
Opel halts redundancies
German carmaker Opel has suspended voluntary redundancies after staff representatives warned that a wave of departures following PSA Group’s takeover could leave it short of skilled workers. Staff buyouts were halted earlier this week until talks can be held between Opel’s management and the company’s works council at the end of May, Opel said on Friday. PSA is looking to cut 3,700 Opel staff in Germany by 2020 as part of a turnaround plan, including buyouts and early retirements.
COSMETICS
Marc Anthony plans IPO
Marc Anthony Cosmetics, which was founded by its namesake celebrity hairstylist, has hired advisers to run an initial public offering (IPO) aimed at raising as much as C$250 million (US$195 million), people familiar with the matter said. The firm plans to file for its IPO as soon as next week, one of the people said. US private equity firm TA Associates Management acquired Marc Anthony in 2016 for about C$230 million. The firm expanded its beauty business this year by acquiring Canadian hair and skin care company Cake Beauty.
UNITED STATES
Wind farm boom expected
Wind farm developers could add as much as 25 gigawatts of capacity next year and in 2020 as the scheduled reduction of a tax credit spurs an unprecedented building boom, Macquarie Group analysts said in a research note on Friday. The flurry of construction would come as builders push to complete projects to take advantage of the production tax credit before it declines by 20 percent, Macquarie said.
? EGYPT
S&P upgrades credit rating
Ratings agency S&P upgraded the nation’s debt grade by one notch on Friday, citing stronger economic growth and moderating inflation. S&P raised the sovereign credit rating to “B” from “B-,” which is still below investment grade but further up the scale. The ratings agency cited the improving economy, which is expected to average growth of 5.4 percent over the next four years, reflecting “a more broad-based recovery and a slight move away from consumption” toward greater investment and net exports.
AUTOMAKERS
VW to recall 220,000 cars
German carmaker Volkswagen AG (VW) is to recall about 220,000 of its new Polo vehicles in the next few weeks due to a problem with the rear seat belt lock, it said on Friday, adding that 191,000 cars of its Spanish unit Seat were also affected. The company said the global recall is limited to markets where Polo cars are sold and the Seat brand does business. At Seat, last year’s and this year’s Ibiza models, as well as this year’s Arona model are affected, it said.
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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