TECHNOLOGY
Complaints body formed
A tech body backed by the Australian units of Facebook Inc, Google and Twitter Inc yesterday said that it has set up a special committee to adjudicate complaints over misinformation, a day after the government threatened tougher laws over false and defamatory online posts. A three-person “independent complaints sub-committee” would seek to resolve complaints about possible breaches of the code of conduct, the Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI) said. DIGI, which also counts Apple Inc and TikTok as signatories, said it could issue a public statement if a company was found to have contravened the code of conduct, or revoke its status.
RETAIL
Asos CEO steps down
Asos PLC chief executive officer Nick Beighton stepped down after 12 years at the UK online clothing retailer, which warned that sales growth is slowing amid global supply chain disruptions. The company said it would start seeking a replacement and its sales growth would slow to a mid-single-digit percentage rate in the first half as supply chain issues make it harder to satisfy consumer demand. Asos also forecast a decline in adjusted pretax profit this fiscal year to a range of ￡110 million to ￡140 million (US$150 million to US$190 million) and reported earnings short of analysts’ estimates in the 12 months through August.
ENERGY
Reliance buys REC Solar
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd acquired Norwegian solar panel manufacturer REC Solar Holdings AS in a deal giving the company an enterprise value of US$771 million, it said in a filing on Sunday. Hours later Reliance said it had agreed to acquire 40 percent of Indian billionaire Pallonji Mistry’s Sterling & Wilson Solar Ltd valued at US$372 million as of Friday’s close in Mumbai. The two acquisitions should help Reliance New Energy Solar expand in green energy markets globally, including the US, Europe, Australia and elsewhere in Asia.
ENERGY
Forrest plans new factory
Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest is planning a massive factory to build equipment to produce green hydrogen in a key Australian coal hub. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd’s energy unit is to build a plant with initial capacity to make two gigawatts of electrolyzers a year in Gladstone in Queensland, home to one of the world’s largest coal-export terminals. Construction is to start in February next year, with manufacturing targeted to begin in early 2023, the company said on Sunday. The initial capacity would make the plant among the largest in the world and vault Australia into early competition with China as a leading producer of the equipment.
TECHNOLOGY
Pod Point mulls IPO
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure provider Pod Point, which is backed by Electricite de France SA, plans an initial public offering (IPO) in London. Pod Point is to sell new shares in the IPO to finance its expansion, while some employees and investment firm Legal & General Group PLC plan to sell existing stock as well, a statement said yesterday. EDF would retain a majority stake, the statement said. After the IPO, at least 25 percent of Pod Point’s stock would be available for trading and the company would be eligible for the FTSE stock indices, Pod Point said, without disclosing the planned size of the offering.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
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