SWITZERLAND
GDP increases 0.3%
Economic growth slowed in the second quarter, with investment suffering amid fallout from the US-China trade dispute and a slump in Germany. GDP rose 0.3 percent, with equipment investment down 1 percent, which the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs blamed on an “uncertain environment.”
TRADE
US announces steel tariffs
Washington on Wednesday announced new import duties on more than US$1 billion in imported structural steel from China and Mexico, saying that manufacturers in those countries dumped products in the US market. The US Department of Commerce’s findings, which are preliminary and could be reversed, follow a similar decision in June concerning Chinese alloy aluminum imports valued at nearly US$1 billion. Chinese and Mexican producers allegedly dumped fabricated structural steel — such as I-beams, rods and joists — at margins of between 0 percent and 141.4 percent, the department said.
ELECTRONICS
Galaxy Fold hits stores
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday announced that its Galaxy Fold would go on sale today in its home market of South Korea following a months-long delay caused by the discovery of a defect in the original design. The Galaxy Fold, a US$1,980 luxury Android device that opens like a book, is expected to arrive in the US on Sept. 27, people familiar with Samsung’s plans said. Samsung itself lists the US market as one of its expansion geographies after the South Korean launch, alongside France, Germany, Singapore and the UK.
TRANSPORTATION
Grab to focus on AI
Southeast Asian ride-hailing start-up Grab Holdings Inc intends to invest US$150 million in artificial intelligence (AI) research in the next year, accelerating the expansion of a business that now includes food delivery, digital payments and digital content. Grab would build on the US$100 million it has previously invested in AI technology, and improve its fraud prevention and natural language processing tech, company cofounder Tan Hooi Ling (陳慧玲) said on Wednesday. “We want to go from AI-powered to AI everywhere,” Tan said.
INTERNET
Facebook records exposed
Phone numbers linked to more than 400 million Facebook Inc accounts were listed online in a privacy lapse for the social media giant, US media reported on Wednesday. An exposed server stored 419 million records on users across several databases — including 133 million US accounts, more than 50 million in Vietnam and 18 million in Britain, news site TechCruch reported. The databases listed Facebook user IDs, the profiles’ telephone numbers, as well as the gender listed by some accounts and their geographical locations, TechCrunch said.
ELECTRONICS
Apple sells US$7bn of debt
Apple Inc on Wednesday borrowed US$7 billion in its first bond sale in nearly two years, as cheap funding costs tempt even companies flush with cash. Apple, which has more than US$200 billion in cash and securities on its books, sold senior unsecured bonds in five parts. The longest portion of the offering, a US$1.5 billion 30-year security, would yield 1.03 percentage points above Treasuries, after an initially discussed spread of about 1.25 percentage points, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
US SANCTIONS: The Taiwan tech giant has ended all shipments to China-based Sophgo Technologies after one of their chips was discovered in a Huawei phone Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) artificial intelligence (AI) processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, the people said. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. Reuters could not determine how the chip ended up on the Huawei product. Sophgo said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that it was in compliance with all laws
SPEED OF LIGHT: US lawmakers urged the commerce department to examine the national security threats from China’s development of silicon photonics technology US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday said it is finalizing rules that would limit US investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology sectors in China that could threaten US national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the US Department of the Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by Biden in August last year covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems. The rules are to take effect on Jan. 2 next year and would be overseen by the Treasury’s newly created Office of Global Transactions. The Treasury said the “narrow
TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
SPECIALIZIATION: OpenAI is designing a new type of semiconductor with Broadcom that would run artificial intelligence software and respond to user requests OpenAI is working with Broadcom Inc to develop a new artificial intelligence (AI) chip specifically focused on running AI models after they have been trained, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The AI start-up and chipmaker are also consulting with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest chip contract manufacturer, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. OpenAI has been planning a custom chip and working on such uses for the technology for about a year, but the discussions are still at an early stage, the sources said. OpenAI declined