AUTO INDUSTRY
India car sales drop further
India’s domestic passenger vehicle sales fell for the ninth straight month last month, an auto industry body said yesterday, amid a deepening crisis in the nation’s automobile sector that has triggered large-scale job losses. Sales of passenger vehicles to auto dealers fell 30.9 percent to 200,790, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. Commercial vehicles sales dropped 25.7 percent to 56,866 units, SIAM said. Motorcycle and scooters sales declined 16.8 percent to about 1.51 million units, while passenger car sales fell 36 percent to 122,956 units, the data showed.
BEVERAGES
Diageo to sell Cuban rum
A subsidiary of British drinks giant Diageo PLC on Monday announced a joint venture with Havana’s state distiller to market and distribute Cuban rum, defying US efforts to block foreign investment in the communist-run country. The Diageo subsidiary and state company Cuba Ron will be equal partners in Santiago SA, a company that will internationally market the Santiago de Cuba brand, one of the island’s premium spirits. To comply with US law, the Diageo subsidiary would have no interaction with any of the beverage group’s US-based businesses or involve any US employees.
COSMETICS
L’Oreal guilty of trade theft
L’Oreal SA must pay a California-based start-up US$91.4 million for stealing its trade secrets, breaching a contract and infringing two patents related to a popular system that protects hair during bleaching treatments, a federal jury ruled on Monday. Olaplex LLC had accused the French giant of stealing the secrets in a meeting in California in 2015, when the companies were in talks for L’Oreal to buy the start-up. L’Oreal, during a week-long trial in Wilmington, Delaware, said it independently conceived the use of a critical acid in August 2014 and developed its products on its own. The jury also found that L’Oreal’s acts were intentional, leaving the door open for the judge to substantially increase the damages if he chooses.
INTERNET
Verizon selling Tumblr
Verizon Communications Inc agreed to sell the blogging platform Tumblr to Automattic Inc, the latest sign the wireless giant is dismantling its online empire. Terms of the transaction were not material, Verizon said, suggesting Tumblr sold for a tiny fraction of the US$1.1 billion it fetched in 2013. Verizon acquired the site as part of its 2017 purchase of Yahoo. Automattic already owns a group of publishing sites, including WordPress and Longreads, and sees Tumblr as a good fit. The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the sale, saying that Automattic would take on about 200 staffers.
TELECOMS
Huawei hires trade lobby
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) has hired the law firm Sidley Austin LLP to lobby on trade as the US pressures allies to join it in blacklisting the Chinese telecom giant, which has found itself increasingly mired in US President Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing. The lobbying, which began last month, will focus on export controls, trade sanctions “and other national security-related topics,” according to a disclosure filed with the US Senate. The document shows that Huawei is deepening its ties to Sidley Austin, which is already working on the company’s legal challenges in the US, while also ramping up its lobbying presence.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
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