PHARMACEUTICALS
AstraZeneca seeks jab profit
AstraZeneca PLC’s widely used COVID-19 vaccine made little contribution to earnings in the third quarter as the British-Swedish company expects the shot to move to “modest profitability” on new orders. AstraZeneca yesterday posted US$1.05 billion in vaccine sales for the period. The company, which has said it would not make a profit from the cheap and easy-to-use shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, this week unveiled plans to set up a separate unit for vaccines and antibody treatments to focus on its efforts to fight the novel coronavirus. Revenue jumped 47 percent to US$9.74 billion for the third quarter of this year on a constant-currency basis, while core earnings were US$1.08 per share, the company said. The vaccine, Vaxzevria, contributed US$0.01 to earnings per share.
SEMICONDUCTORS
EU warns of scheming
Chipmakers might play off governments “against each other” for subsidies to fix semiconductor shortages, EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said yesterday. While such action is tempting for companies in the current circumstances, it “risks letting taxpayers — whether European or American — pick up the bill and get little from it,” she said. Vestager seemed to target Intel Corp, which is chasing European support to help build more local chip capacity. Vestager said that state aid can only be justified if necessary to start a project and if benefits are shared widely and without discrimination across the EU. The bloc would need to invest up to 330 billion euros (US$378 billion) upfront to fully supply its own chip demands, Vestager said.
ACCOUNTANTS
KPMG sued for US$600m
KPMG LLP was sued for at least US$600 million over its role in the insolvency of Emirati private-equity firm Abraaj Group, the latest in a string of complaints of sloppy auditing made against the sector’s big four. The claimants, two units of Abraaj that are in liquidation, accuse KPMG accountants of having failed “to maintain independence and an appropriate attitude of professional skepticism,” and breached their duty of care when auditing the private-equity firm, court documents filed in Dubai on Nov. 3 showed. If KPMG and its local Lower Gulf subsidiary had complied with their duties, then “irregularities” relating to the firm’s financial statements would have been identified sooner, the claimants said.
E-COMMERCE
Amazon reduces drone staff
Amazon.com Inc has shifted staff working on its Paris-based drone research-and-development center to new projects, marking another setback in the company’s delivery project. The members of the dozen-strong team, which previously focused on drone navigation, were reassigned to new roles from September last year onwards, primarily focusing on COVID-19 testing software, job profiles on LinkedIn showed. “Prime Air continues to make great strides toward our vision of customer orders in 30 minutes or less by drone,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “We recognize the only solution worth launching is one that is safe, and we continue to partner closely with regulators in that mission.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos disclosed Amazon’s ambitions to deliver packages by drone in an interview in 2013. The company has said it would continue opening research-and-development outposts in the US and Europe. It held its first successful delivery test as part of a pilot project near Cambridge, England, in 2016.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”