SINGAPORE
Recovery still on track
The economy would continue to recover next year as global growth is projected to “remain positive,” Minister for Transport S. Iswaran, who is also minister-in-charge of trade relations at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, told parliament yesterday. The country is sticking to its plan to cautiously reopen more sectors of its economy and live with COVID-19 as its case count surges, relying on one of the world’s highest vaccination rates to keep hospitalizations low. Looser restrictions would help consumer-facing industries and ease labor shortages, Iswaran said. The second half of this year should see “outward-oriented sectors” remain healthy barring a major setback for the global economy, he added.
METALS
Firms monitoring Afghanistan
China’s Jiangxi Copper Co (江西銅業) and Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC, 中國冶金科工) are monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and would push forward with the Mes Aynak copper mine when they can, Jiangxi said yesterday. They took on a 30-year lease for the mine in 2008, which has an estimated reserve of 11.08 million tonnes of copper. Jiangxi holds a 25 percent stake in the project. “Due to the unstable situation in Afghanistan, the Mes Aynak copper mine invested by the company has not yet undergone substantial construction,” Jiangxi chairman Zheng Gaoqing (鄭高清) told an online briefing. The company would monitor the situation and push forward construction of the project when it can, he said.
AIRLINES
Debt piles up amid COVID-19
Airlines are piling on more debt as surging COVID-19 cases force travelers to cancel plans and stay home. The industry’s outstanding debt has since last year jumped 23 percent to US$340 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. So far this year, global air carriers have sold US$63 billion in bonds and loans. Many carriers, such as EasyJet PLC and Japan Airlines Co, are returning to the bond market after last year’s dash-for-cash when the pandemic first struck. The big sales show that investors are still ready and willing to give ample funding to the industry.
TECHNOLOGY
Epic Games plans appeal
Fortnite video game maker Epic Games Inc plans to appeal a ruling in its antitrust case against Apple Inc after a federal judge on Friday gave a mixed decision, it said in a legal filing on Sunday. The judge said that Apple would have to loosen some rules on developers. However, the ruling favored Apple on many counts, including allowing the iPhone maker to continue its prohibition of third-party, in-app payment systems. Epic had said it would continue its legal fight. Apple and Epic declined to comment on Sunday.
METALS
Aluminum hits 13-year high
The price of aluminum reached exactly US$3,000 per tonne in trading yesterday, the metal’s highest level in 13 years, with tight supplies worsened by a military coup in Guinea. The African nation is rich in bauxite, from which aluminum is processed. The metal has surged more than 15 percent over the past three weeks. Also pushing prices higher are rising electricity prices in China, which has led to a sag in production at a number of foundries in its western Xinjiang region. Aluminum smelting consumes large amounts of energy.
INTERGRATION: Jensen Huang said that every Nvidia department and function of the company should be using AI, after reportedly saying staff were ‘insane’ not to Nvidia Corp is in a “unique” position in the market, despite facing intensifying competition, chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said during a brief visit to Taiwan yesterday amid a potentially growing challenge from Google for the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market. Huang told reporters that the AI market is “extremely large” and that while there is a lot of competition, Nvidia’s “condition is very strong and our position is very unique.” Huang, who arrived in Taipei on Thursday, was responding to questions about the possible threat posed by Google. According to a report in The Information on Tuesday, Meta has been in
Charming US President Donald Trump one week, angering China the next, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has had a busy start and is riding high in the polls, all on a few hours of sleep a night. However, the honeymoon might end soon for the Margaret Thatcher-admiring leader if a spat with China escalates further and she fails to keep inflation in check. “I believe Prime Minister Takaichi will surely do what she needs to do, so I trust her,” Kozue Otsuka, 50, told reporters at a festival this week for business owners seeking good fortune. While buying a lucky kumade rake featuring
INSULATED: The company said it is less exposed to global complications, as it has built a strong footprint worldwide, and has multiple sources of rare earths and raw minerals Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks. Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
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