TELECOMS
BT Group shares rise
BT Group PLC shares advanced as much as 9.5 percent following a report that India’s Reliance Industries Ltd is weighing up a possible offer for the UK’s biggest telephone company. Reliance could make an unsolicited offer to buy into the company or even stake a claim for a controlling stake, with some strategic shareholders open to cashing out at the right price, the Economic Times reported. A BT spokesman declined to comment. Separately, the Mail on Sunday reported that private equity firms and investment funds are assessing BT’s infrastructure division Openreach at valuations as high as £40 billion (US$53 billion).
ENERGY
Gazprom profit hits record
Russia’s Gazprom yesterday reported its highest-ever quarterly net profit at 581.8 billion rubles (US$7.8 billion) for the third quarter, reflecting high natural gas prices. The Kremlin-controlled company, which a year earlier suffered a loss of 251 billion rubles, benefited from record-high natural gas prices in Europe, its key source of revenue. Gazprom said its average gas price in Europe and other regions jumped to US$313.40 per 1,000 cubic meters in the third quarter from US$117.2 a year earlier. The company said its July to September revenue rose to 2.4 trillion rubles, also a quarterly record high, from 1.4 trillion a year earlier.
CEMENT MAKERS
PPC sets net-zero target
PPC Ltd, the biggest South African cement maker, has set a target of attaining net zero emissions by 2050. The company aims to cut emissions by 10 percent by 2025 and 27 percent by 2030, it said in its inaugural climate change report yesterday. PPC produces 11.6 million tonnes of cement a year. PPC and other South African industrial companies are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions in a country that is the world’s 12th-biggest producer of greenhouse gases. Across Africa, cement accounts for 32 percent of emissions of the climate-warming gases from manufacturing, according to Mckinsey & Co.
CHINA
Gini coefficient high: official
The country needs to cut its Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, to under 0.4 to achieve common prosperity, an adviser to the central bank said. The Gini coefficient should be lowered from 0.47 to close to 0.4 by 2025 and then toward 0.35 by 2035, said Cai Fang (蔡昉), a member of the People’s Bank of China’s monetary policy committee. Cai’s comments are notable, as government officials have not set national numerical targets for the Chinese Communist Party’s common prosperity drive, which was given high-profile backing by President Xi Jinping (習近平) in August.
MACROECONOMY
ECB thinks inflation peaked
The European Central Bank (ECB) believes that inflation peaked this month, meaning it would be premature to raise interest rates as price increases look likely to slow gradually next year, ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said. Inflation would trend back toward 2 percent next year, she told ZDF television yesterday, as supply bottlenecks and energy price growth level off. “Most forecasts actually assume inflation will fall below 2 percent, so there really are no signs of price rises getting out of control,” she said. “If we thought inflation would permanently settle above 2 percent, we would definitely react. However, at the moment, we see no indications of this,” she added.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective