INDONESIA
Palm oil export snag over
The Ministry of Trade has received a number of palm oil export permit requests that could be granted within the day, senior ministry official Veri Anggriono said yesterday. The world’s top palm oil producer allowed exports of the vegetable oil to resume from Monday last week, but companies have faced regulatory hurdles that have slowed the process of getting shipments out. “As of this morning there were five to six companies that had submitted a request and the system would immediately process them. We hope the permits can be issued today,” Veri said.
SPAIN
Inflation rises to 8.5%
Inflation unexpectedly increased, denting hopes that the eurozone’s record price surge has peaked and piling more pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to act. The acceleration — to 8.5 percent this month from 8.3 percent last month under EU harmonized standards — came as increases in fuel costs offset an easing in electricity prices that have driven inflation to records across the continent for months. A gauge of underlying price gains, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy, rose to 4.9 percent.
PHILPIINES
Digital trade taxes mulled
Incoming secretary of finance Benjamin Diokno is considering taxes on digital transactions and streaming services such as Netflix Inc subscriptions, GMA News reported. Digital transactions have the tendency to “evade” taxes unlike purchases made over the counter, GMA News cited Diokno as saying. Among these digital transactions are subscription-based services such as video and audio streaming, it said. “Right now, if these are able to evade taxes, why not tax it? It’s a service. Who can afford Netflix? Not the poor,” Diokno said.
TELECOMS
Italia could sell to state
Telecom Italia SpA late on Sunday said that it is preparing to sell off the entirety of its network in a project that would shift control of the multibillion-euro asset to the Italian state. The news marks the end of an era for the carrier, which has struggled with financing for decades. The former monopoly is now hoping to use proceeds from the network sale to cut its staggering debt pile and launch a fiber rollout for a country that lags far behind its European peers.
AIRLINES
Norwegian Air to buy 30 jets
Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA reached an agreement in principle with Boeing Co for the purchase of 50 737 MAX jets, to be delivered when the carrier’s existing leases end. The airline would take delivery of the planes between 2025 and 2028, the company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday. Norwegian Ait expects to finalize the order, which also includes options for an additional 30 aircraft by the end of June. The airline plans to make predelivery payments for the new MAX jets through “positive cash flow from operating activities,” it said.
INVESTMENT
Golden Gate set on Vietnam
Singapore’s Golden Gate Ventures is opening two offices in Vietnam to invest in the country’s emerging tech sector that it predicts would spur Southeast Asia’s next phase of growth. The Singapore-based venture capital firm is planning to set up posts in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, it said in a statement yesterday. Founding partner Vinnie Lauria has moved to Ho Chi Minh City to head operations.
SPEED OF LIGHT: US lawmakers urged the commerce department to examine the national security threats from China’s development of silicon photonics technology US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday said it is finalizing rules that would limit US investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology sectors in China that could threaten US national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the US Department of the Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by Biden in August last year covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems. The rules are to take effect on Jan. 2 next year and would be overseen by the Treasury’s newly created Office of Global Transactions. The Treasury said the “narrow
SPECULATION: The central bank cut the loan-to-value ratio for mortgages on second homes by 10 percent and denied grace periods to prevent a real-estate bubble The central bank’s board members in September agreed to tighten lending terms to induce a soft landing in the housing market, although some raised doubts that they would achieve the intended effect, the meeting’s minutes released yesterday showed. The central bank on Sept. 18 introduced harsher loan restrictions for mortgages across Taiwan in the hope of curbing housing speculation and hoarding that could create a bubble and threaten the financial system’s stability. Toward the aim, it cut the loan-to-value ratio by 10 percent for second and subsequent home mortgages and denied grace periods for first mortgages if applicants already owned other residential
SPECIALIZIATION: OpenAI is designing a new type of semiconductor with Broadcom that would run artificial intelligence software and respond to user requests OpenAI is working with Broadcom Inc to develop a new artificial intelligence (AI) chip specifically focused on running AI models after they have been trained, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The AI start-up and chipmaker are also consulting with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest chip contract manufacturer, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. OpenAI has been planning a custom chip and working on such uses for the technology for about a year, but the discussions are still at an early stage, the sources said. OpenAI declined
RAPID GROWTH: MediaTek said that it expects revenue from its flagship smartphone chip to grow by 70 percent, driven by demand for artificial intelligence applications Smartphone chip designer Media-Tek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said that it would perform better than the seasonal pattern with revenue forecast to grow 2 percent quarterly, thanks to robust demand for its new flagship smartphone chip that enables PC-like artificial intelligence (AI) features on phones. The strong demand for the new Dimensity 9400 chip this year prompted MediaTek to raise its flagship smartphone chip revenue growth to 70 percent year-on-year, up from of an earlier estimate of 50 percent growth. “For the fourth quarter, the strong ramp of Dimensity 9400 is expected to offset the lower seasonal demand for the mainstream