ENERGY
Total to buy AGEL stake
French oil giant Total SE yesterday said it would pay US$2.5 billion for a 20 percent stake in India’s Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), a major solar energy producer, as it diversifies away from fossil fuels into renewables. Along with the 20 percent direct stake comes a 50 percent holding in a portfolio of solar energy assets operated by AGEL, part of the Adani group, Total said in a statement. The two companies have had a partnership accord since 2018, when Total acquired a stake in Adani Gas Ltd.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Audi hit by shortage
A global semiconductor shortage is forcing Audi to delay the production of some high-end vehicles and furlough workers, chief executive officer Markus Duesmann told the Financial Times. The Volkswagen AG brand has put more than 10,000 workers on furlough as production slowed, but overall output for this year should not be affected, because the company expects to make up for lost time in the second half, Duesmann said in the interview published on Sunday.
SOUTH AFRICA
Tax hike considered
The National Treasury is considering raising taxes as one of several possible mechanisms to fund the vaccination drive against COVID-19, Business Day reported. The government viewed the vaccines as a public good and was committed to financing their rollout, with or without support from the private sector and medical schemes, the Johannesburg-based newspaper reported, citing Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane. Other options the Treasury is exploring include widening the budget deficit and reprioritizing government spending.
TECHNOLOGY
Citrix in talks for Wrike
Citrix Systems Inc is in advanced talks to buy the work-management platform company Wrike Inc for more than US$2 billion, people familiar with the matter have said. A deal for Wrike, owned by the technology-focused buyout firm Vista Equity Partners, could be reached as soon as this week, the people said, asking not to be identified, because the information was private. It would be the largest acquisition for Citrix. The deal is not finalized and talks could still fall apart.
E-CIGARETTES
RLX eyes US$1.17bn IPO
Chinese e-cigarette maker RLX Technology Inc (霧芯科技) is looking to raise as much as US$1.17 billion from a US initial public offering (IPO). RLX Technology, backed by Sequoia Capital China (紅杉資本中國基金), is selling 116.5 million American depositary shares (ADS) at US$8 to US$10 each, a US filing showed. Each ADS represents one ordinary share and would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company, known for its RELX-branded devices in China, had earlier considered Hong Kong as a listing venue, but it ultimately opted for the US.
ALGERIA
Oil revenue plummets
The country’s oil revenues collapsed last year, Ministry of Energy figures released on Sunday showed. “The overall volume of hydrocarbon exports reached 82.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2020, for a value of US$20 billion, a decrease of 11 percent and 40 percent respectively compared to 2019,” the ministry said in a statement cited by state news agency APS. Oil income in the treasury was down 31 percent year-on-year, the ministry said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”