CHINA
Export growth remains stable
The nation maintained solid export growth of 12.6 percent last month, slightly slower than in April, but still providing good news for Beijing’s policymakers as they deal with tough trade negotiations with Washington. Imports grew 26 percent last month, the General Administration of Customs said, beating analysts’ forecast of 18.7 percent growth and compared with a 21.5 percent rebound in April. The nation posted a trade surplus of US$24.92 billion for the month, down from US$28.38 billion in April.
JAPAN
Economy back to contraction
The economy slid into negative territory for the first time in two years at the beginning of the year, official data showed yesterday, confirming preliminary figures issued last month. The world’s third-largest economy contracted by 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the January-to-March period, unchanged from the preliminary figure, after growth of 0.1 percent at the end of last year, the Cabinet Office said. The contraction brings an end to a series of eight consecutive quarters of growth.
UNITED KINGDOM
Economy to lag behind peers
The economy is on course to lag behind its international peers again this year as it nears its departure from the EU, according to forecasts from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), an employers’ group. The world’s fifth-largest economy looks likely to grow by 1.4 percent this year, the CBI said, weaker than projected growth in the eurozone of 2.2 percent and in the US of 2.8 percent. Growth looks set to slow to 1.3 percent next year, when it would again lag behind the eurozone and the US, the CBI said.
FINANCE
Ant is largest fintech firm
Chinese digital payments giant Ant Financial Services Group (螞蟻金服) yesterday said that it has raised US$14 billion in its latest financing round, making it the world’s largest fintech company ahead of an expected mammoth initial public offering. The cash infusion for Ant Financial, an affiliate of e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), said in a statement that the funds would be invested in new technologies and to accelerate Alipay’s (支付寶) expansion abroad and into new sectors.
TOURISM
Carnival to acquire railroad
One of the world’s largest cruise companies plans to buy a railroad used to carry summer tourists between the Alaskan community of Skagway and Carcross in Canada’s Yukon. Carnival Corp on Thursday said that it plans to buy the White Pass and Yukon Route rail and port operations from Ontario-based TWC Enterprises Ltd. TWC said the deal is worth US$290 million, with debt, taxes and other liabilities to be deducted. The deal is expected to close on July 31.
CHINA
Brazil faces dumping duties
Beijing is to impose anti-dumping duties on purchases of broiler-chicken products from Brazil, its top supplier, after an almost 10-month investigation found that surging imports damage the domestic breeding industry. Importers are to pay a deposit of as much as 38.4 percent to customs on purchases from June 9, the Ministry of Commerce said in a preliminary ruling, citing initial findings from an investigation that started in August last year.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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