GERMANY
Corporate tax cap mulled
The government is looking to cap its corporate tax burden at 25 percent as the nation seeks to help smaller businesses amid signs the economy is lurching into a recession. The proposal was made yesterday by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier as part of a package aimed at supporting the so-called Mittelstand — small and medium-sized businesses that account for nearly 60 percent of the nation’s jobs. According to Deloitte, Germany’s overall tax burden on companies is about 30 to 33 percent. Altmaier did not specify the impact of the tax cut on government revenue.
INDIA
FDI, online sales eased
New Delhi has decided to liberalize foreign direct investment (FDI) in domestic manufacturing, coal mining and digital media, and will also allow single-brand retailers to start online sales to infuse capital into the country and boost its economy. Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that the Cabinet on Wednesday approved 100 percent FDI in coal mining and associated infrastructure. He said it also approved 100 percent FDI in contract manufacturing and up to 26 percent investment in digital media. The government also relaxed the 30 percent local sourcing requirement in single-brand retailing and permitted online sales without the prior opening of brick-and-mortar stores. “Online sales will lead to the creation of jobs in logistics, digital payments, customer care, training and product skilling,’’ Goyal said.
HOTELS
HK unrest prompts moves
The unrest in Hong Kong is prompting businesses to relocate conferences and other major meetings to locations such as Thailand and Singapore, hotel billionaire William Heinecke said on Wednesday. “Some conferences have been canceled in Hong Kong and moved,” said Heinecke, the chief executive officer of Bangkok-listed Minor International PCL. The trend is “significant,” he said, adding that it is helping offset the slowdown in Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand. “If the protests in Hong Kong persist, more tourists could opt to visit Thailand instead, benefiting hoteliers such as Minor,” said Maria Lapiz, managing director at Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) PCL in Bangkok.
GAMING
Caesars drops Japan plan
Caesars Entertainment Corp said it would not pursue a license for a casino in Japan and would focus instead on its current business plan, including a merger with Eldorado Resorts Inc scheduled to close next year. Caesars management made the decision out of sensitivity to the Japanese government and business partners, who must make decisions this year to advance the casino process, chief executive officer Tony Rodio said in a statement. A casino in Japan is expected to cost upward of US$10 billion, market watchers said.
NORWAY
GDP up 0.2% in Q2
The nation’s economic growth accelerated in the second quarter, keeping up momentum as the central bank ponders whether to raise interest rates again as soon as next month. Mainland GDP, which excludes oil and shipping, expanded 0.7 percent in the quarter, Statistics Norway said in a statement yesterday. That was up from a revised 0.5 percent in previous quarter. A Bloomberg survey of 13 economists predicted a quarterly expansion of 0.8 percent, in line with the central bank’s forecast.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
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