CLOUD STORAGE
UCloud IPO approved
Chinese cloud storage provider UCloud Technology Co Ltd (優刻得科技) on Friday obtained approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Star market, according to an exchange filing. It is the first company with unequal voting rights to get approval from the exchange for the dual-class listing in the domestic market, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company aims to raise about 4.7 billion yuan (US$660 million) via the IPO, according to a separate exchange filing.
ENERGY
Tata gets solar order
Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd, a unit of Tata Power Co, received an order to build a 105 megawatt-peak floating solar plant in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the company said in a stock exchange filing. The 3.43 billion rupee (US$49 million) project is to be built on the reservoir of NTPC Ltd’s naphtha-fired plant in Kayamkulam and commissioned within 21 months, Tata Power Solar Systems said. The order also includes operations and maintenance of the plant for three years, it said.
RAILWAYS
Malaysia announces delay
Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to delay by another month a decision on whether to go ahead with a train project connecting the city-state with Malaysia’s southern state of Johor, Malaysia said on Sunday. The countries agreed to extend the deadline to decide on the RTS Link project by a month to Oct. 31 without any additional cost, the Malaysian Ministry of Transport said in a statement. Malaysia will have to pay Singapore abortive costs if the Rapid Transit System Link is not taken forward.
SOUTH KOREA
Bank laments growth target
Downside risks in the nation’s economy are outweighing upside ones, making it increasingly hard for the central bank to maintain its growth forecast that was already cut earlier this year, Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol said. Even though the US and China are to resume trade talks, a slowdown in the global economy is likely to persist and it will be some time before demand for memory chips picks up again, Lee told reporters on Friday evening. “It will be tough to achieve the 2.2 percent growth projection.”
SAUDI ARABIA
Islamic bonds considered
The nation is considering selling a US dollar-denominated Islamic bond as early as next month as the kingdom seeks to take advantage of lower borrowing costs, people with knowledge of the matter said. The government is close to hiring banks for the possible sukuk sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance did not immediately respond to requests to comment.
ECONOMY
Vietnam projection upgraded
Economists are upgrading their growth projections for Vietnam after data this weekend showed that the nation’s economy surged more than 7 percent in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc revised its full-year forecast to 6.9 percent from 6.7 percent previously on the basis of another solid performance in the fourth quarter. Maybank Kim Eng Research Ltd now sees 7 percent growth for the year versus a prior call of 6.8 percent and United Overseas Bank Ltd changed to 6.8 percent for the year from 6.7 percent.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS