AUTOMAKERS
Japanese report sharp drops
Toyota Motor Corp and other Japanese automakers yesterday reported steep drops in output last month as the COVID-19 outbreak accelerated worldwide. Toyota reported that its global production fell 13.8 percent from a year earlier. Worldwide production for the Toyota Group, which includes Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, declined 12.2 percent to 762,802 units, it said. Nissan Motor Co’s production fell 29 percent to 270,073 units. Honda Motor Co’s global production dropped 26 percent to 289,255 units, the seventh straight month of declining output.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault halting production
French carmaker Renault SA yesterday said production at all its plants across the world had been halted due to the impact of the pandemic, apart from those in China and South Korea. “The group plans to restart production activities in the countries concerned as soon as conditions permit and will implement appropriate measures to respond effectively to commercial demand,” it said.
GREECE
Aid measures announced
The government yesterday announced new tax breaks and economic assistance to thousands of businesses and workers to buffer its economy from a national lockdown. The economy is expected to contract by 3 percent this year due to the spread of coronavirus, government estimates showed. The support measures include a one-off benefit for 1.7 million, or 81 percent of private-sector workers whose jobs are temporarily suspended and payment of their social security contributions for 45 days.
AUSTRALIA
Deep recession forecast
The nation’s economy is poised for its deepest recession in 90 years as restrictions designed to mitigate the spread of coronavirus push firms and households to the brink, Bloomberg Economic said yesterday. GDP would decline by about 10 percent in the first quarter before a gradual recovery in the final three months, James McIntyre, Australia economist at Bloomberg Economics, wrote in a report yesterday. He does not expect a return to pre-coronavirus level of activity for three years.
NORWAY
More bond issuances set
The central bank yesterday said it has increased its planned issuance of government bonds this year to between 70 billion and 85 billion Norwegian kroner (US$6.68 billion to US$8.11 billion) from an original plan of 55 billion kroner. The unusual revision follows Oslo’s decision to offer loans worth tens of billions of kroner in emergency funding to firms hurt by the coronavirus outbreak. In total, Norges Bank now aims to conduct 19 bond auctions this year, up from its planned 15. The number of Treasury bill auctions would be raised to 20 to 23.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Finablr loses auditor
UK-based Finablr yesterday said that Ernst & Young LLP has resigned as its auditor after it could not accommodate some of the requested adjustments on time that included changes to the composition of its board. Finablr, which owns Travelex, had said earlier this month that it was preparing for potential insolvency, while operations of its unit in the United Arab Emirates were seized by that nation’s central bank. Its problems started when US shortseller Muddy Waters took aim at NMC Health, which shares the same founder as Finablr — BR Shetty.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
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