UNITED KINGDOM
More cryptocurrency seized
Police have seized record hauls of cryptocurrency totaling ￡294 million (US$408 million) as part of an investigation into money laundering after organized crime groups moved into cryptocurrencies to wash their dirty money. London police yesterday said that they had seized ￡180 million of an undisclosed cryptocurrency less than three weeks after making a ￡114 million haul on June 24 as part of a money laundering investigation. A 39-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of money laundering after the first haul was discovered and has been interviewed under caution over the ￡180 million discovery.
TIMEPIECES
Swatch looks to second half
Swatch Group AG appears to be on track to return to pre-COVID-19 levels of revenue this year as the maker of Omega and Blancpain watches expects a strong second half with pandemic restrictions increasingly being eased around the world. The watchmaker is likely to open more stores than it closes in the second half, as the outlook improves, CEO Nick Hayek said in an interview yesterday. Growth at its own shops recovered quickly as soon as they reopened, he said. “It’s proving true that consumers like to shop even more after a crisis — 2021 will be a very good year, finally,” Hayek said by telephone.
TELECOMS
Nokia to raise yearly outlook
Nokia Oyj has said that it expects to raise its full-year outlook, citing a stronger-than-expected second quarter in which the network equipment maker was able to keep costs in check as demand picked up. The Finnish company did not provide numbers, but “expects to revise upward its prior outlook ranges for 2021,” with additional details to come when it reports its second-quarter results on July 29, it said in a statement yesterday. Nokia previously said that it expected full-year net sales, adjusted for currency swings, to reach between 20.6 billion euros and 21.8 billion euros (US$24.4 billion and US$25.8 billion).
CHIPMAKERS
Broadcom-SAS deal ‘looms’
Broadcom Inc is in talks to acquire closely held software company SAS Institute Inc, a person familiar with the matter said. A deal, which would value the software maker at US$15 billion to US$20 billion, might be reached in the coming weeks, the person said. No final decision has been made and the talks could end without a purchase, the person added. SAS, based in Cary, North Carolina, sells business analytics and management software. A deal for SAS would expand Broadcom’s software division, which the company beefed up in 2019 with the purchase of Symantec Corp’s enterprise security business and an acquisition of CA Technologies in 2018
EUROPEAN UNION
Tax awaiting global deal
The European Commission said on Monday it would delay its plan to propose an EU digital tax in order to not jeopardize efforts to secure a global deal on fairer taxation. After an “extraordinary” breakthrough at G20 talks on Saturday, “we have decided to put on hold our work on a proposal for a digital levy,” an EU spokesman said, a day after Washington asked Brussels to delay its tax plan. Meeting in Venice, G20 finance ministers on Saturday endorsed a plan agreed by 132 countries to overhaul the way multinational companies, including US digital giants, are taxed.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
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