Amazon.com Inc founder and CEO Jeff Bezos on Tuesday endorsed US President Joe Biden’s focus on building up the nation’s infrastructure and said the company even supports a corporate tax rate hike to help pay for it.
Bezos’ statement, posted on the company’s Web site, was notable because it came after Biden singled out the company for criticism about how much it pays in federal taxes when he unveiled his US$2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.
Biden has proposed hiking the US corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent to help pay for his plan, an idea that Republican leaders are panning as harmful to economic growth.
Photo: AFP
Democrats would surely cite support from individual companies to undercut that argument.
“We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate),” Bezos wrote. “We look forward to [the US] Congress and the Administration coming together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or enhances US competitiveness.”
Bezos was careful not to endorse a specific plan.
Rather, he said: “We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure.”
The company would benefit from the investments made in roads, bridges, airports and broadband. Business groups have joined in the call for more public works investment by the federal government, but they have generally balked at Biden’s call for raising the corporate income tax, with the US Chamber of Commerce describing Biden’s proposal as “dangerously misguided when it comes to how to pay for infrastructure.”
Along with partially undoing the corporate tax cut put in place during former US president Donald Trump’s administration, Biden also wants to set a minimum US tax on overseas corporate income and to make it harder for companies to shift earnings offshore.
Amazon has long been criticized for paying virtually no federal taxes in the US for years even as it built an e-commerce empire that currently has a market value of US$1.6 trillion.
That has changed slightly in recent years as the Seattle firm has become more profitable.
Last year, it reported paying US$1.7 billion in federal taxes on its US income of US$20.2 billion, working out to an effective tax rate of about 8 percent.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks