AUTOMAKERS
VW optimistic on full year
Volkswagen AG (VW) on Wednesday said it was confident it could defy a worldwide squeeze in vehicle sales over the full year, although unit sales and operating profit fell in the second quarter. Operating profit before special items was down 8.1 percent year-on-year in the quarter at 5.1 billion euros (US$5.68 billion), VW said in a statement. Revenue grew 6.6 percent to 65.2 billion euros, although unit sales were down 2.8 percent at 2.8 million vehicles — falling especially in the vital Chinese market. Net profit surged 24.2 percent to 4.1 billion euros, it said.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan to slash workforce
Nissan Motor Co yesterday said that it would cut 12,500 jobs and announced a plunge in quarterly net profit as it struggles with weak sales and the arrest of its former chairman. “Nissan will reduce its global production capacity by 10 percent by the end of fiscal year 2022. In line with production optimizations, the company will reduce headcount by roughly 12,500,” the firm said in a statement. Net profit slumped nearly 95 percent to ￥6.4 billion (US$59.23 million) for the three months to last month, from ￥115.8 billion a year earlier, due to falling sales and growing costs.
LUXURY BRANDS
LVMH hits record high
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE shares yesterday rose to a record in Paris after second-quarter sales breezed past analysts’ estimates, fueled by creative revamps at its Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior fashion brands. Sales of fashion and leather goods rose 20 percent on an organic basis in the second quarter, the company said on Wednesday. LVMH’s first-half profit from recurring operations rose 14 percent to 5.3 billion euros.
BRAZIL
Cash stimulus for workers
The government hopes to inject US$11.2 billion into its slowing economy after announcing a plan on Wednesday to put some extra cash in the pockets of workers. Workers are to be allowed to withdraw up to 500 reais (US$133) this year and a certain percentage next year. President Jair Bolsonaro said that the extra money would help about 63 million people with “debts and overdue water, electricity and gas bills.” The stimulus is expected to add 2.5 percentage points to GDP per capita over 10 years and create 3 million jobs.
SOFTWARE
Salesforce, Alibaba team up
Salesforce.com Inc on Wednesday unveiled a partnership with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) to enter the greater Chinese software market, chasing new business in Asia despite the US-China trade dispute. Alibaba is to sell Salesforce cloud-based software for clients’ sales, customer service and commerce needs in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau, the companies said in a statement.
CHIPMAKERS
SK Hynix dives on demand
South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc yesterday posted an 89 percent quarterly profit plunge amid sluggish demand, as a spat between Seoul and Tokyo threatens earnings. Operating profit fell for the third consecutive quarter to 637.6 billion won (US$539.74 million) and net earnings were down 88 percent to 537 billion won, while total sales were down 38 percent on the year to 6.4 trillion won. Market demand had “fallen short of earlier expectations,” SK Hynix said, adding that the price fall was “steeper than anticipated.”
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
Nvidia is to open a quantum computing research lab in Boston, where it plans to collaborate with scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Thursday. Huang made the announcement at Nvidia’s annual software developer conference in San Jose, California, where the company held a day of events focused on quantum computing. Nvidia added the program after Huang in January said that useful quantum computers are 20 years away, comments that he sought to walk back on Thursday while joined onstage by executives from quantum computing firms. “This is the first event in history
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