PHILIPPINES
Fuel tax hike put on hold
The government on Sunday said it would suspend the implementation of a further increase in excise tax on fuel products, set to take effect in January next year, to stem rising inflation expectations. The Department of Finance expects foregone revenues of up to 40 billion pesos (US$740 million) a year from the suspension. The amount is part of the crucial funding for President Rodrigo Duterte’s US$180 billion “Build, Build, Build” program, which aims to upgrade the country’s infrastructure.
ENERGY
Cepsa listing postponed
Spanish oil company Cepsa SAU yesterday said it had postponed a market listing planned for Thursday, blaming global market conditions. The firm said in a statement that Abu Dhabi-based owner Mubadala Investment Co had “decided to desist” on a planned market listing, citing “the current state of international capital markets.” Madrid-based Cepsa’s activities are concentrated on refining and distribution in Spain, but it is also present in oil and gas exploration and production in Latin America and North Africa.
GERMANY
IPO upends wealth ranking
The country’s largest-ever listing of a family-owned business has reordered the country’s wealth rankings. Heinz Hermann Thiele is US$5.7 billion richer following last week’s initial public offering (IPO) of his largest asset, Knorr-Bremse AG, the world’s biggest maker of truck and train braking systems. The IPO makes him the country’s fourth-richest person, with a net worth of US$15 billion. Knorr-Bremse has expanded its global presence to more than 30 countries and posted sales of 6.2 billion euros (US$7 billion) last year.
TELECOMS
StarHub to share network
StarHub Ltd chief executive officer Peter Kaliaropoulos said the company, Singapore’s No. 2 telephone carrier, is looking to pare costs even further by sharing infrastructure, after announcing he would trim the company’s workforce by about 12 percent. The company might reach a commercial agreement on network sharing next year or earlier, Kaliaropoulos said in an interview on Thursday last week. Financial benefits could be seen by the end of next year, he said.
SINGAPORE
Home sales jump 51 percent
Private home sales in the city-state last month jumped 51 percent as developers marketed more projects after Ghost Month and as buyers moved past the additional cooling measures imposed in July. Developers in the city-state sold 932 units, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement yesterday. That compares with 617 units in August, the data show. Total apartments launched for sale last month more than doubled to 1,169.
UNITED STATES
Kudlow defends Trump
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow defended his boss on Sunday, saying that President Donald Trump respects the Federal Reserve’s autonomy, despite last week’s remark that the Fed had “gone crazy” raising interest rates. Kudlow, speaking on Fox News Sunday, said that Trump was “giving his opinion” on interest rates based on his background “as a successful businessman and investor.” Trump is “not impinging on Fed independence. He didn’t say: ‘I want you to change your plan,’” Kudlow said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
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