TECHNOLOGY
Facebook expands in Texas
Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc is going bigger in Texas. The company has leased half of what is to be Austin’s tallest skyscraper, making the social media giant the latest major business to expand in the state. Meta is leasing 54,720m2 across 33 floors, a spokesperson said on Sunday. It would account for the entire commercial half of a 66-story tower under construction in the heart of Austin’s downtown area. Meta is seeking to hire 400 more people in the area, and would have the capacity along with other space in the region for many more, the company said. The tower is scheduled to open next year.
AGRICULTURE
Yara exits Belarus purchase
Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara yesterday said it would wind down its purchase of potash from Belarus by April 1, as international sanctions made it impossible to continue the trade. Yara is a key customer of state-owned Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest producers of potassium salt, or potash, the crop nutrient that is a major foreign currency earner for Belarus. The company said its purchase of potash from Belarus had been in full compliance with the sanctions, but would still have to come to a halt. Yara sources potash from nine suppliers globally, a company sustainability report filed last year showed.
HOTELS
Reliance to buy NY hotel
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd has agreed to buy an indirect 73.37 percent stake in Mandarin Oriental New York for US$98.15 million, the company said in a filing on Saturday. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, a wholly owned unit of Reliance Industries, would buy the entire issued share capital of Columbus Centre Corp, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, which indirectly owns the stake in the luxury hotel. The company said it would also seek to buy the remaining stake from other owners at the same valuation. The transaction is expected to close by the end of March.
LABOR
Sick, isolated ravage output
Staff shortages caused by COVID-19 illness and mandatory isolation could result in a ￡35 billion (US$47.57 billion) loss in output in the UK over this and next month, according to the Sunday Times. The projected loss is equivalent to 8.8 percent of GDP and based on government planning assumptions of a 25 percent absenteeism rate, the study conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research showed. Even a more conservative estimate of 8 percent absenteeism — which is three times the seasonal average — could result in loss in output of ￡10.2 billion, or 2.6 percent of GDP, the center said.
HONG KONG
COVID-19 toll continues
Financial Secretary Paul Chan (陳茂波) expects the territory’s economy to take a hit as a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections sparked by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 takes hold. The government has yet to give economic forecasts for the year, which is expected during Chan’s annual budget speech next month, but he said in his blog post on Sunday that he would also take into account the global COVID-19 pandemic, supply-chain bottlenecks and changes in monetary policies by western central banks in making his predictions. Economists at Morgan Stanley and Bloomberg Economics have already cut their economic growth forecasts for Hong Kong.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
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