SEMICONDUCTORS
Broadcom buying CA
Semiconductor giant Broadcom Inc, which recently failed in a bid to buy US rival Qualcomm Inc, on Wednesday announced a cash deal to buy software and services firm CA Technologies for US$18.9 billion. Broadcom described CA as a major provider of information technology management software and said the acquisition would help it diversify its offerings. The deal was approved by the boards of both companies. Broadcom is to pay US$44.50 per share of CA stock; about 20 percent over the closing price for common shares at the end of formal market trading on Wednesday. The companies expect the acquisition to close in the final quarter of this year. The merger must be approved by shareholders and regulators.
MEDIA
Comcast raises Sky bid
The battle for European pay TV service Sky escalated on Wednesday as US rivals Comcast Corp and 21st Century Fox Inc took turns upping the ante in their quest to expand their media empires. The stakes now stand at ￡26 billion (US$34 billion) — the value of Comcast’s latest offer. That bid came after Fox raised its bid to ￡24.5 billion earlier in the day. Comcast’s new bid translates to ￡14.75 per share, or 18 percent more than its original offer. Fox is dangling ￡14 per share for the 61 percent of Sky that it does not own.
GAMING
Disney to air ‘Overwatch’
Fans of the Overwatch video game will soon be able to watch competitions on television under a deal announced on Wednesday by Activision Blizzard and Walt Disney Co. Disney and its ESPN channels will be exclusive partners for broadcasting Overwatch matches on television in the US, in the “most significant commitment” they have made to video games as a spectator sport, Activision Blizzard eSports league chief Pete Vlastelica said. The alliance is part of an effort to establish Overwatch eSports audiences and business models akin to those in traditional sports. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. Playoff games beginning this week along with finals taking place in Brooklyn on the last weekend of this month will be on Disney XD or ESPN channels, according to the programming schedule.
FINANCE
JD to raise US$1.9bn
JD Finance (京東金融) is close to snagging 13 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) of investment from several Chinese financial services giants, gaining a clutch of influential backers in its fight against Jack Ma’s (馬雲) Ant Financial (螞蟻金服). The spinoff from online retailer JD.com Inc (京東) has signed agreements with CICC Capital (中金資本), an investment arm of Bank of China (中國銀行) and buyout firm CITIC Capital (中信資本) for a fundraising that values the nascent company at roughly 133 billion yuan, JD Finance said in a statement. It hopes to complete the round of financing this quarter.
CANADA
Central bank hikes rate
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday hiked its benchmark interest rate to 1.5 percent, the first increase since the middle of January, as the G7 tries to tame inflation. The interest rate increase of 25 basis points — as analysts forecast — put the rate at its highest point in a decade, and the bank said future hikes were expected. Inflation “is expected to edge up further to about 2.5 percent before settling back to 2 percent by the second half of 2019,” the bank said in a statement. “Higher interest rates will be warranted to keep inflation near target,” it said.
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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