VIETNAM
PM eyes sustained growth
Vietnam seeks to sustain economic growth next year at about 6.8 percent amid a projected 7 percent rise in exports, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said. Inflation should stay below 4 percent next year, Phuc told legislators in a speech in Hanoi aired live on television. Overseas sales are set to gain 7.9 percent this year, while inflation will likely average 2.7 to 3 percent this year, he said. Growth in the Southeast Asian economy accelerated to 7.31 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, surpassing expectations to reach the fastest pace since the start of last year. Vietnam is benefiting from rising foreign investment in manufacturing as businesses shift production from China to bypass higher tariffs.
ECUADOR
Oil exports resume
Ecuador on Sunday said it had resumed crude oil exports curbed by violent protests that forced several wells in the Amazon to halt operations. The country was hit by 12 days of demonstrations, led by indigenous groups, against fuel price hikes until President Lenin Moreno reached a deal with protest leaders on Oct. 13. “Oil production has recovered, so the operation of the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System has been standardized,” Petroecuador, the national oil company, said in a statement. “All suspended exports will be rescheduled in the coming days.”
RIDE-HAILING
Gojek announces new CEOs
Indonesian ride-hailing and payments company Gojek said two senior officials would jointly take over running operations of the US$10 billion firm after chief executive officer and cofounder Nadiem Makarim resigned to join Indonesia’s Cabinet. Gojek president Andre Soelistyo and the other cofounder, Kevin Aluwi, would be the joint CEOs, the company said. It had “planned for this possibility and there would no disruption to its business,” it said in a statement. Soelistyo has been at the firm since 2016 and previously headed Singaporean private equity firm Northstar Group, while Aluwi runs the company’s data science and analytics teams.
OIL RIGS
Temasek plans takeover
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte plans to take control of Keppel Corp for about S$4 billion (US$3 billion) and undertake a review of the oil-rig builder’s business that could involve a board shakeup. The state-backed investor, which already owns about one-fifth of Keppel, offered to buy an additional 30.6 percent stake at S$7.35 a share, according to a statement yesterday. That is 26 percent higher than what Singapore-based Keppel traded at before its shares were halted. Temasek said it plans to keep Keppel traded on the Singapore stock exchange. Keppel also has businesses involved in real estate and infrastructure.
AIRLINES
Strike cancels flights
Cabin crew at four Lufthansa subsidiary airlines staged a day-long strike on Sunday, causing dozens of cancelations at German airports in a battle for better pay and conditions. The walkout, called by the UFO cabin crew union, at Eurowings, Germanwings, SunExpress and Lufthansa CityLine led to more than 100 flight cancelations, mainly hitting short-haul journeys at Hamburg airport, Munich, Berlin-Tegel, Cologne and Stuttgart, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. Frankfurt airport, the country’s busiest, reported “only a few” cancelations, affecting CityLine flights.
RECORD BUDGET: TSMC does plan to raise its proposed capital expenditure a lot, and could benefit if Intel outsources more of its production to foundries, analysts said Intel Corp’s earnings conference call on Thursday is expected to clarify the US semiconductor giant’s outsourcing production plans, which would be crucial regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) performance, analysts said. “TSMC stands to benefit if Intel outsources more of its fabrication to foundries,” SinoPac Securities Investment Service Corp (永豐投顧) analysts said in a note on Friday. Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) was more cautious, saying that Intel’s contribution initially would be limited, but its outsourcing plans would still highlight TSMC’s leadership in technology, it added. “Intel will continue to manufacture server or high-end central processing units [CPUs], which have higher
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday announced it would give incentive bonuses totaling NT$1.7 billion (US$59.7 million) to its employees and those at the firm’s major subsidiaries, after the smartphone chip supplier’s revenue hit US$10 billion last year. This is the biggest incentive bonus the Hsinchu-based handset chip designer has ever distributed in its 23-year history. About 17,000 full-time employees of MediaTek and five of its subsidiaries, including Richtek Technology Corp (立錡科技) and Airoha Technology Corp (絡達科技), would receive a “red envelope” of NT$100,000 each, the company said. “Surpassing US$10 billion is just the beginning. We will continue to [grow] on this basis,” MediaTek
TO SPUR REVENUE: The contract chipmaker expects its profit to grow 15 percent this year, outpacing the foundry industry’s projected advance of about 10 percent Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its projected capital spending for this year by 62 percent, a new high, in an attempt to satisfy customer demand for advanced technologies in the production of central processing units, high-performance-computing (HPC) devices and 5G applications. After investing US$17.24 billion last year, TSMC this year plans to spend US$25 billion to US$28 billion on manufacturing equipment and new facilities, including a fab in the US. About 80 percent of the budget would be allocated for developing advanced technologies including 3, 5 and 7-nanometer technologies, the company said. The larger-than-expected capital spending prompted speculation
Norway’s oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world’s wealthiest countries, but its dreams for deep-sea discovery now center on something different. This time, Oslo is looking for a leading role in mining copper, zinc and other metals found on the seabed and in hot demand in green technologies. The country could license companies for deep-sea mining as early as 2023, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said, potentially placing it among the first countries to harvest seabed metals for electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar farms. However, that could also place it on the front line of
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