VIETNAM
FDI up 6.2 percent annually
The country received US$4.1 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the first quarter of this year, up 6.2 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said yesterday. FDI has been a key driver of the country’s economic growth. Companies with FDI account for more than 70 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s exports. FDI pledges — which indicate the size of future FDI disbursements — rose 86.2 percent in the January-to-March period from a year earlier to US$10.8 billion, the ministry said in a statement. Of the pledges, 77.7 percent would be invested in manufacturing and processing, while 7.2 percent would go to real estate, the ministry said.
RETAIL
Funds seek new board
Activist funds are launching a proxy fight to replace Bed Bath & Beyond Inc’s entire 12-person board amid concerns that the retailer is not responding well to the rise of e-commerce, people familiar with the matter said. Legion Partners Asset Management LLC, Macellum Advisors and Ancora Advisors LLC control about a 5 percent stake in the Union, New Jersey-based retailer and are seeking to replace chief executive officer Steven Temares, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. The funds have lined up 16 director candidates, including former Gap executive Jeff Kirwan, to replace the current board.
GAMES
Nintendo rises on report
Nintendo Co rose the most in almost eight months after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company plans to introduce two new Switch console models as early as this summer. The shares climbed as much as 6.8 percent to ￥32,520 in Tokyo yesterday, the most on an intraday basis since Aug. 1 last year. One of the models would have enhanced features to cater to avid gamers, while the other version is expected to be a cheaper alternative for casual players, the Journal reported, citing unidentified Nintendo parts suppliers and software developers. The new models might be launched at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles in June.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Xarelto case settled
A US$775 million settlement has been announced in about 25,000 lawsuits involving the blood-thinning medication Xarelto. Cases consolidated in federal court in New Orleans date back to 2014. They involved claims that users of the medication marketed by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals LLC and Janssen Pharmaceutica were not adequately informed of risks of life-threatening complications. A statement from attorneys for the plaintiffs called the settlement a “fair and just resolution.” US District Judge Eldon Faldon presided over the cases. He issued a series of orders on Monday regarding implementation of the settlement.
TECHNOLOGY
Bitmain IPO lapses
Bitmain Technologies Ltd (比特大陸科技控股), the world’s biggest producer of cryptocurrency mining chips, has let its application for Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) lapse. The virtual currency mining firm’s listing application, which was filed in September last year, expired yesterday, according to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Web site. The Beijing-based company was targeting to raise as much as US$3 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. The company said in a statement that it would restart the listing application work at an appropriate time.
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
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
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
RSS