ELECTRONICS
ZTE nears final US hurdle
ZTE Corp (中興通訊) is close to clearing the final hurdle needed for the US government to lift sanctions that prevented the Chinese telecommunications giant from buying US equipment, a US Department of Commerce official said. The Shenzhen-based company has paid a US$1 billion fine and another US$400 million in escrow is to be completed in a couple of days, the official said. A bipartisan group of lawmakers remains concerned about ZTE’s threat to US national security and wants legislation aimed at stronger penalties.
COMMUNICATIONS
BlackBerry drops up to 10%
BlackBerry Ltd shares plunged the most in a year after investors focused on weak growth in software revenues that the company attributed to a change in accounting standards. Shares in BlackBerry on Friday fell as much as 10 percent to US$10.49 in New York, the greatest intraday drop since June 23 last year. Software revenue, the company’s most important growth metric, was US$83 million in the first quarter, 18 percent lower than a year earlier, a statement said on Friday.
INTERNET
Delivery giant files for IPO
Internet giant Meituan Dianping (美團點評) on Friday filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, becoming the latest Chinese technology juggernaut to throw a multibillion-dollar coming-out party in Hong Kong this year, a person familiar with its filing documents said. Meituan made a net loss of 19 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) on total revenue of 34 billion yuan for fiscal year 2017, the person said.
CANADA
May prices jumped 2.2%
Canadians paid 2.2 percent more for goods and services last month than a year earlier, with price hikes recorded in all categories, government data showed on Friday. Inflation was flat from the previous month, but came in well below forecasts of 2.6 percent, confirming economists’ predictions that the Bank of Canada would hold off raising interest rates when meeting next month. Gasoline was the biggest contributor to inflation last month, rising 23 percent year-on-year, Statistics Canada said.
UNITED STATES
Rise in self-employed drivers
Call it the Uber effect. The number of self-employed US workers in the taxi and limousine services industry, which includes ridesharing, surged 46 percent in 2016 to more than 700,000, a Census Bureau report released on Thursday showed. The government defines so-called “nonemployer establishments” as businesses without paid employees that have annual receipts of at least US$1,000.
EUROPEAN UNION
French-German plan in doubt
The Netherlands on Friday led a behind-the-scenes campaign to stop a French-German plan to establish a eurozone budget ahead of a key EU summit to discuss the matter. European sources said the Dutch government was making arguments on behalf of about a dozen countries that held wide-ranging doubts about the French-German plan. In an e-mail to Eurogroup President Mario Centeno, Dutch Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra insisted that the lack of consensus on the budget be clearly communicated to leaders at next week’s summit.
Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Polar Semiconductor LLC to collaborate on the production of 8-inch wafers in the US. The collaboration aims to strengthen 8-inch wafer manufacturing in the US amid Washington’s efforts to increase onshore manufacturing of semiconductors, contribute to supply chain resilience against shifting geopolitical dynamics, and ensure a secure domestic supply of power semiconductors critical to automotive, electric grids, robotic manufacturing and data centers, the companies said in a joint statement. Under the MOU, Polar and UMC will identify devices for Polar to manufacture at
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
Two companies wholly owned by the daughter of the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Monday reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they would dispose of all of the Hon Hai shares they hold. In filings with the exchange, Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維) said it would sell the 2.771 million Hon Hai shares it holds and Frontier Investment Corp (承鋒投資) said it would sell its 2.409 million Hon Hai shares from tomorrow until Jan. 3 next year. The two companies are wholly owned and chaired by Shirley Gou (郭曉玲), the eldest daughter of Hon Hai founder Terry
TARIFF TALKS: The US secretary of commerce is eyeing more than US$300 billion in investments and said Taiwan would train US workers, but Taipei has denied the latter US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the US is expecting a large investment pledge from Taiwan in trade talks, while President William Lai (賴清德) listed areas that need improvement in order for projects to be completed. “We’re in the midst of discussions,” Lutnick said on Wednesday. “But the fact is, this administration’s goal is to bring semiconductor manufacturing to America.” Lai on Wednesday said Taiwan is supportive of US President Donald Trump’s goal of reindustrializing the US, including efforts to ramp up semiconductor production. Such a goal would require the US to reduce its reliance on Taiwan as a key source
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