UNITED KINGDOM
BoE governor named
Britain’s new government yesterday named Andrew Bailey as the next governor of the Bank of England (BoE), entrusting one of London’s most experienced regulators with steering the world’s fifth-biggest economy and its vast finance industry through Brexit. “Andrew was the stand-out candidate in a competitive field,” Minister of Finance Sajid Javid told reporters. “He is the right person to lead the bank as we forge a new future outside the EU and level-up opportunity across the country.” Bailey, 60, said in a statement that he was honored to take over at the bank, “particularly at such a critical time for the nation as we leave the European Union.” Bailey worked for 30 years at the central bank, where he helped lead efforts to shore up the British banking system during the global financial crisis.
TELECOMS
Deutsche talks revealed
Deutsche Telekom was in advanced talks to retain China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) as its main supplier of radio equipment for new mobile networks before it put the negotiations on hold for political reasons, three sources familiar with the matter said. The US has urged its allies to freeze out the Chinese supplier over cybersecurity concerns. Washington has told allies that the company’s equipment could be used by China as spying tools, an allegation denied by Huawei and Beijing. Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecoms operator, last week announced that it was not entering into 5G network equipment contracts as it awaited the resolution of a political debate in Berlin over whether to restrict Huawei’s access to the German market. Before that announcement, Deutsche Telekom had held discussions with Huawei in Paris and hammered out terms for a possible deal, although no contract was signed, the sources said.
APPARE
Nike beats expectations
Nike’s quarterly results again beat Wall Street expectations as its online sales grew and customers shrugged off a series of corporate scandals. The company’s revenue grew to US$10.33 billion in the second quarter ending Nov. 30, up 10 percent from the same period last year. Analysts had been expecting US$10.1 billion in revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research. However, Nike’s North America sales disappointed slightly at US$3.98 billion, up 5 percent from US$3.78 billion in the same period last year. Analyst had anticipated sales closer to US$4 billion, according to FactSet. Its net income rose 32 percent to US$1.12 billion. Strong sales, a lower tax rate and a focus on selling more shoes at full price helped offset cost increases related to tariffs. Earnings per share rose to US$0.7, beating expectations of US$0.58 per share, according to Zacks.
TECHNOLOGY
AI technology questioned
Facial recognition systems can produce wildly inaccurate results, especially for non-whites, according to a US government study released on Thursday that is likely to raise fresh doubts on deployment of the artificial intelligence technology. The study of dozens of facial recognition algorithms showed “false positives” rates for Asian and African American as much as 100 times higher than for whites. The researchers from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, a government research center, also found two algorithms assigned the wrong gender to black females almost 35 percent of the time.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
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