INVESTMENT
Start-up raises US$130m
Wolt Enterprises Oy, a food delivery start-up based in Helsinki, has landed US$130 million in new investment to increase its European expansion and fund a hiring spree. The company would use its new funding to accelerate its growth, adding new cities and countries, Miki Kuusi, Wolt’s 29-year-old cofounder and chief executive, said in an interview. The company would also hire an additional 1,000 people in the next 18 months, he added. It currently employs about 450 people.
SOFTWARE
Adobe revenue surprises
Adobe Inc reported quarterly revenue that topped Wall Street estimates, signaling that the Photoshop maker’s expanding product suite is continuing to fuel growth. Sales increased 25 percent to US$2.74 billion in the fiscal second quarter from a year earlier, the San Jose, California-based company said on Tuesday. However, it gave a profit forecast that fell short of analysts’ projections for the second consecutive quarter. Earnings, excluding some expenses, would be about US$1.95 a share in the current period, it said.
AIRLINES
Air NZ CEO to resign
Air New Zealand Ltd CEO Christopher Luxon is resigning after more than six years in the role, as he raised the possibility of a new career in politics. Luxon, 48, is to step down from day-to-day leadership of the airline on Sept. 25, the company said yesterday. An international search for his replacement is under way and a new CEO is expected to be announced in the near future, chairman Tony Carter said in a statement.
TAXATION
Islands to publish data
Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man plan by 2023 to publish secret information on ownership of companies registered in the crown dependencies, they announced yesterday, heeding calls for greater tax transparency. The islands have responded by jointly proposing “a series of steps regarding each jurisdiction’s central register of beneficial ownership information of companies and how they will move toward developing international standards of accessibility and transparency.”
MALAYSIA
Bank sees upside to dispute
The central bank, which has already downgraded its economic growth outlook for this year amid an escalating trade dispute, sees a partial offset as companies shift operations from China to sidestep higher US tariffs. In her first formal interview with international media since she took office almost a year ago, Bank Negara MalaysiaGovernor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said that the trade diversion could add about 10 basis points to this year’s growth rate. That would be on top of the bank’s current forecast of 4.3 to 4.8 percent for this year.
UNITED KINGDOM
Brexit fears erode prospects
Hotel operator Whitbread PLC and leather-goods maker Mulberry Group PLC yesterday reported lower sales in their home market as the uncertainty around Brexit erodes business prospects. Whitbread said that first-quarter comparable sales dropped 3.7 percent, while Mulberry reported that UK revenue fell 6 percent in the year through March, driving it to a £5 million (US$6.28 million) pretax loss. Whitbread said that the company is opening more rooms in London, but it is cautious about the outlook for travel elsewhere in the country.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
AI AIM: The chipmaker wants joint research and development programs with the Czech Republic, and the government is considering supporting investments in a Czech location Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to build more plants in Europe with a focus on the market for artificial intelligence (AI) chips as the chipmaker expands its global footprint, a senior Taiwanese official said. “They have started construction of the first fab in Dresden; they are already planning the next few fabs in the future for different market sectors as well,” National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) told Bloomberg TV in an interview that aired yesterday. Wu did not specify a timeline for TSMC’s further expansion in Europe. TSMC in an e-mailed statement said it
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more