CHINA
More tax cuts planned
Beijing is planning more tax cuts this year than last year and pledged to step up support to struggling local governments to compensate for weaker revenue, Minister of Finance Liu Kun (劉昆) said yesterday. “Transfer payments by the central government to regional governments will increase by a large margin this year,” Liu said, without providing more details. The government granted 1.1 trillion yuan (US$173 billion) in tax breaks last year, with Liu saying that the amount would rise further this year.
AIRLINES
SAS seeks new capital
SAS AB yesterday said it would launch a new transformation program and look to raise new capital after reporting a wider quarterly loss than a year earlier. The airline, which is part-owned by the governments of Sweden and Denmark, reported a loss before tax of 2.60 billion kronor (US$275 million) for the November-to-January quarter after posting a loss of 1.92 billion kronor a year earlier. SAS said it would fully transform its business, aiming to save 7.5 billion kronor a year.
EQUITIES
Exchange to buy TORA
London Stock Exchange Group agreed to buy cloud-based technology provider TORA for US$325 million, the British stock exchange operator said yesterday, adding the rapidly growing digital assets class to its trading capabilities. The potential acquisition of TORA — which supports customers trading multiple asset classes, including equities, fixed income and digital assets across global markets — is expected to close in the second half of this year.
AUTOMAKERS
Ship fire losses tallied
A cargo ship carrying about 4,000 Volkswagen AG vehicles that caught fire last week could cost the automaker at least US$155 million, a risk-modeling company’s estimate showed. Of the roughly US$438 million total value of goods aboard the Felicity Ace, which went up in flames off the coast of Portugal’s Azores Islands, Russell Group said on Monday it estimates there are US$401 million of vehicles. VW group had Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini models on the vessel. Russell Group estimates automakers other than VW might have lost about US$246 million of vehicles.
GEMSTONES
Diamond sales surge
Botswana’s state-run diamond trader reported record revenue last year with sales surging almost fivefold after imports from the US recovered from a slowdown amid COVID-19 restrictions. Okavango Diamond Co sold US$963 million of rough diamonds last year, company spokesman Dennis Tlaang said. The revenue was the most since the company began operations in 2012, Tlaang said. Sales might rise further this year after De Beers pushed through one of its most aggressive diamond price increases in the past few years, he said.
SRI LANKA
Inflation hits new record
Inflation hit a record for the fourth consecutive month, official data showed yesterday as an economic crisis driven by a crippling foreign exchange shortage worsens. The National Consumer Price Index rose 16.8 percent last month from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive record rise and more than double October’s figure of 8.3 percent. The record highs came as the nation struggles to find dollars to finance imports including food, fuel and medicine.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
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