AUTOS
EU sales hit record low
New vehicle registrations in the EU hit a record low last month, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said in a statement yesterday. “With the ongoing semiconductor shortage still negatively affecting car sales across the region” the registration of new vehicles last month fell by 6 percent from January 2020, the association said. The 682,596 vehicles registered last month marks “a new historic low in EU car sales for the first month of the year” since the trade association began keeping records in 1990. Of the top EU markets, both Italy and France saw sales drops of nearly 20 percent, while Germany rose by 8.5 percent and Spain was broadly stable, the association said.
SINGAPORE
No change in GDP forecast
The city-state yesterday reaffirmed its economic growth forecast for this year and raised its reading for last year, as its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic stabilizes and it seeks to ease virus restrictions. GDP is projected to expand 3 to 5 percent this year, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said, reiterating its estimate in November. It also upgraded last year’s growth to 7.6 percent, from an earlier estimate of 7.2 percent. Prospects for “outward-oriented” sectors, such as manufacturing and trade, would remain strong this year amid the global recovery, the ministry said in a statement, while aviation and tourism-related activity is expected to slow amid risks of recurring COVID-19 outbreaks.
JAPAN
Deficit hits eight-year high
The nation racked up a ￥2.2 trillion (US$19 billion) trade deficit last month, an eight-year high, as the cost of energy imports soared, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports edged up 9.6 percent last month from the same month the previous year, it said. Imports jumped 39.6 percent, resulting in a sixth straight month of trade deficits, it said. The amount is the biggest since January 2014, when the trade deficit totaled nearly ￥2.8 trillion. Exports have not risen as quickly as imports, as manufacturing of electronics and autos has been slowed by shortages of computer chips resulting from COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions in some countries.
AVIATION
Airbus posts record profits
European aircraft giant Airbus SE reported record profits for last year after two years of losses, with deliveries rising as it navigates COVID-19 pandemic disruptions to the travel industry. Net profit surged to 4.2 billion euros (US$4.8 billion), with deliveries of aircraft rising 8 percent to 611 planes, Airbus said in a statement. The company also fielded 507 net orders, almost double from 2020, including the first orders for its new A350 freighter. The company said it is targeting 720 commercial aircraft deliveries this year.
FOOD
Profitability to fall: Nestle
Nestle SA yesterday said that profitability might decline for a second year this year, showing that even the world’s largest food and beverage company is not immune to the cost inflation wracking the industry. Input costs would probably increase more this year than last year, CEO Mark Schneider told reporters, forecasting an underlying trading operating profit margin of 17 to 17.5 percent this year compared with 17.4 percent last year. “There’s almost no place in the company that’s exempt from inflation now,” Schneider said. “Hence, we have to adjust.”
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
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