SWEDEN
PM touts sturdy economy
The economy is robust enough to withstand the effects of the energy crunch that has gripped Europe and filtered into Scandinavia, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. “We have a very, very strong economy,” Lofven said in an interview in New York on Sunday. “If we have dramatically higher prices in the long term, that will affect consumption, but I don’t think we’re there.” Sweden’s debt to GDP ratio has held below 40 percent even during the COVID-19 crisis and remains one of the lowest in Europe. That measure is set to fall to about 35 percent, Lofven said.
AIRLINES
Lufthansa to issue shares
Europe’s largest airline group, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, said on Sunday that it would seek to raise more than 2 billion euros (US$2.34 billion) with a capital increase. The German company said its executive board had agreed to a share issue from tomorrow and “the gross proceeds are expected to amount to 2.140 billion euros.” The transaction, intended to improve its equity position and help repay state aid provided in the course of the pandemic, was underwritten by a syndicate of 14 banks, Lufthansa said.
ELECTRONICS
Merck to invest 3bn euros
Merck KGaA plans to spend more than 3 billion euros through 2025 on its electronics business to capitalize on rising demand for semiconductor and display panel materials. The German company would expand production capacity, bolster research and development spending and is also considering bolt-on acquisitions, it said in a statement yesterday. The company makes materials and technologies for computer chips and display screens, as well as effect pigments — products that are sold to the automotive, printing and cosmetics industries. A global semiconductor shortage has been devastating vehicle production this year.
BANKING
JPMorgan begins expansion
JPMorgan Chase & Co this week plans to launch a digital retail bank in the UK, the first step in the its strategy to expand its consumer business overseas. The operation, called Chase, is today to start with current accounts, a person familiar with the matter said. The product offering would broaden over time with the bank planning to invest “hundreds of millions” in the venture, Sanoke Viswanathan, head of JPMorgan’s International Consumer division, said in an interview with the Financial Times. The US bank agreed to buy UK digital wealth manager Nutmeg Saving and Investment in June, and Viswanathan told the Financial Times that more acquisitions might be considered.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Bitcoin ‘threatens’ the planet
Mining for bitcoin generates substantial electronic waste that “represents a growing threat to the environment,” a study said. The average life cycle of the powerful computers used to unearth the units of the world’s leading cryptocurrency is only 1.3 years, report coauthor Alex de Vries said on Friday. De Vries said that this was “extremely short compared to any” other electronic devices such as iPhones. At 30,700 tonnes, the amount of electronic waste generated by bitcoin mining in the 12 months to May was “comparable to the amount of small IT and telecommunication equipment waste produced by a country like the Netherlands,” the report said.
TECH TITAN: Pandemic-era demand for semiconductors turbocharged the nation’s GDP per capita to surpass South Korea’s, but it still remains half that of Singapore Taiwan is set to surpass South Korea this year in terms of wealth for the first time in more than two decades, marking a shift in Asia’s economic ranks made possible by the ascent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). According to the latest forecasts released on Thursday by the central bank, Taiwan’s GDP is expected to expand 4.55 percent this year, a further upward revision from the 4.45 percent estimate made by the statistics bureau last month. The growth trajectory puts Taiwan on track to exceed South Korea’s GDP per capita — a key measure of living standards — a
Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped 4.47 percent yesterday after reports it has won approval from Nvidia Corp for the use of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which marks a breakthrough for the South Korean technology leader. The stock closed at 83,500 won in Seoul, the highest since July 31 last year. Yesterday’s gain comes after local media, including the Korea Economic Daily, reported that Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E product recently passed Nvidia’s qualification tests. That clears the components for use in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators essential to the training of AI models from ChatGPT to DeepSeek (深度求索), and finally allows Samsung
READY TO HELP: Should TSMC require assistance, the government would fully cooperate in helping to speed up the establishment of the Chiayi plant, an official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its investment plans in Taiwan are “unchanged” amid speculation that the chipmaker might have suspended construction work on its second chip packaging plant in Chiayi County and plans to move equipment arranged for the plant to the US. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that TSMC had halted the construction of the chip packaging plant, which was scheduled to be completed next year and begin mass production in 2028. TSMC did not directly address whether construction of the plant had halted, but said its investment plans in Taiwan remain “unchanged.” The chipmaker started
MORTGAGE WORRIES: About 34% of respondents to a survey said they would approach multiple lenders to pay for a home, while 29.2% said they would ask family for help New housing projects in Taiwan’s six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, are projected to total NT$710.65 billion (US$23.61 billion) in the upcoming fall sales season, a record 30 percent decrease from a year earlier, as tighter mortgage rules prompt developers to pull back, property listing platform 591.com (591新建案) said yesterday. The number of projects has also fallen to 312, a more than 20 percent decrease year-on-year, underscoring weakening sentiment and momentum amid lingering policy and financing headwinds. New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the downturn in project value, while Taipei, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung
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