SEMICONDUCTORS
EU touts chip ‘ecosystem’
The European Commission yesterday announced plans for a new chipmaking “ecosystem,” to keep the EU competitive and self-sufficient after a global semiconductor shortage showed the hazards of relying on Asian and US suppliers. “Digital is the make-or-break issue,” commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “We will present a new ‘European Chips Act.’ The aim is to create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production. That ensures our security of supply and will develop new markets for ground breaking European tech,” she said. A shortage has posed one of the biggest risks to the EU’s rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission last year said it would invest one-fifth of its 750 billion euro (US$886.8 billion) COVID-19 recovery fund in digital projects.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation at nine-year high
Inflation surged more than expected to the strongest pace in more than nine years, prompting investors to anticipate a sharper increase in interest rates next year. Consumer prices jumped 3.2 percent last month from a year earlier, the most since March 2012, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. The reading was up from 2 percent in July and above the highest estimate in a Bloomberg survey. While much of the increase was due to a comparison with last year’s discounts on restaurant meals, more enduring signs of inflation is fueling expectations that more hawkish Bank of England officials might gain the upper hand in the debate. Policymakers have shifted toward concerns about labor and material shortages leading to more persistent inflation, with a surge in energy costs due to hit in coming months. The figures “will keep the Bank of England in a hawkish mood, laying the ground for a rate hike in the first half of next year,” said Dean Turner, an economist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
EQUITIES
Microsoft touts buyback plan
Microsoft Corp on Tuesday said it would conduct an up to US$60 billion share buyback program, raise its quarterly dividend by 11 percent and appoint company president Brad Smith as vice chairman. Microsoft said the buyback program has no expiration date and might be terminated at any time, and that it would pay a dividend of US$0.62 per share — US$0.06 over the previous quarter. The firm called the vice chairman position an updated role for Smith, who leads a team of more than 1,500 staff in 54 countries, according to his biography on Microsoft’s Web site.
AUTOMAKERS
Rivian launches production
Amazon.com Inc-backed Rivian Automotive Inc’s first electric pickup truck has rolled off the production line, the company’s chief executive officer said on Tuesday. This makes Rivian the first to bring an electric pickup to the market, ahead of Tesla Inc, General Motors Co and others. “This morning our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal,” Illinois, Rivian founder R.J. Scaringe wrote on Twitter. The automaker has received regulatory approvals from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other agencies, and its debut electric vehicles are ready for sale in all 50 US states, a company spokesperson said. Last month, the company said it has confidentially filed paperwork with regulators for an initial public offering. Two sources earlier said that Rivian would seek a valuation of US$70 billion to US$80 billion at its trading debut.
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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