SEMICONDUCTORS
Chip stash hints at slowdown
South Korea’s chip stockpiles increased by the most in more than four years, suggesting a slowdown in demand for memory chips used in electronics worldwide. The nationwide inventory jumped 53.4 percent in May from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said yesterday. An earlier 54.1 percent gain in March 2018 coincided with a slowdown in revenue growth in the chip industry. Semiconductor stockpiles have been rising on a year-on-year basis since October last year. South Korea is the world’s largest producer of memory chips, which go into everything from smartphones to laptops to cars. The mounting stockpiles come amid growing concerns over a possible global recession driven by inflationary pressure, rising interest rates, deteriorating consumer confidence and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Overall industrial production showed a recovery from April’s fall as lockdowns in China eased. Factory output rose 7.3 percent in May from a year earlier, beating a 4 percent forecast by economists.
BREWERIES
Kirin sells Myanmar stakes
Japanese drinks company Kirin Holdings plans to sell its Myanmar business to its military-linked local partner, it said yesterday, exiting the Southeast Asian country more than a year after the military toppled an elected government. Kirin is to sell its 51 percent stake in the Myanmar Brewery Ltd joint venture to partner Myanma Economic Holdings Public Co Ltd for ￥22.4 billion (US$164 million), it said in a statement. Kirin executives initially said they wanted to remain in the market to some degree, but after a year of negotiations, the two sides agreed in February to terminate the venture. Rights group Justice for Myanmar criticized the sale as a “windfall for the Myanmar military” that would ensure the junta a steady stream of revenue.
UNITED KINGDOM
Historic deficit for GDP
The current account deficit in the first quarter ballooned to ￡51.7 billion (US$62.6 billion) or 8.3 percent of GDP, the biggest shortfall by that measure in records going back to 1955, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed yesterday. The figures were subject to more uncertainty than usual due to the effects of post-Brexit data collection changes on trade in goods imports and foreign direct investment, the ONS said. Economists had expected a deficit of just under ￡40 billion. The ONS also said GDP in the world’s fifth-biggest economy increased by 0.8 percent in the first quarter compared with the final three months of last year, when the public had yet to feel the effects of a rise in inflation.
EUROZONE
Economic headwinds hit
French inflation climbed further from May to a record high of 6.5 percent, official preliminary figures showed yesterday, adding headwinds to the eurozone’s second-largest economy. The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies said prices last month rose by 0.8 percent from May, and 12-month preliminary inflation stood at 6.5 percent. Analysts said in a poll that preliminary annualized inflation last month would reach 6.3 percent. Food and energy prices rose sharply due to the war in Ukraine, the institute said. Elsewhere within the eurozone, German inflation for last month unexpectedly eased to 8.2 percent from 8.7 percent in May, while Spanish 12-month inflation rose to 10.2 percent, marking the first time it had surpassed 10 percent since April 1985.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$416.975 billion (US$13.17 billion) for last month, putting the world’s largest contract chipmaker on track to set a record for quarterly revenue. Last month’s figure surpassed March’s record NT$415.19 billion and represented increases of 1.5 percent from April and 30.1 percent from a year earlier. For the first five months of the year, TSMC generated NT$1.96 trillion in revenue, up 30 percent year-on-year, it said in a statement. TSMC has forecast second-quarter revenue of between US$39 billion and US$40.2 billion, representing sequential growth of about 10 percent and year-on-year growth of about
Infineon Technologies AG is preparing to open its largest single investment, a 5 billion euro (US$5.8 billion) semiconductor factory built with the help of EU subsidies, as the bloc seeks to boost chip production. The power chip fab, which is an extension of the German company’s Dresden campus, is scheduled to open on July 2, Infineon chief operating officer Alexander Gorski said this week at the site. The project is a major recipient of EU Chips Act funds, receiving about 1 billion euros in subsidies. The new plant represents a rare success for the bloc’s flagship semiconductor law, which was drawn up during
PATENT PROBE: US lawmakers called for a ban on imports of chips made by TSMC if they are found to infringe on US patents, with a preliminary ruling expected soon Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday expressed confidence in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) compliance with patent regulations after reports linked the company to a patent infringement lawsuit in the US. US Representative Ryan Zinke, and US senators Tim Sheehy, Roger Marshall and Bernie Moreno urged the US International Trade Commission in a May 22 letter to ban imports of chips made by TSMC if they are found to infringe on US patents, Axios reported on Wednesday. An administrative law judge is expected to issue a preliminary ruling this month, with the commission potentially making a final decision in
Taiwan remained the sixth-largest net creditor nation in the world last year, despite a fall of more than 10 percent in its net international investment position (NIIP) over the year, the central bank said yesterday. The NIIP is the difference between a country’s external financial assets and its external financial liabilities. Taiwan’s external financial assets hit US$3.27 trillion at the end of last year, up US$275.75 billion or 9.2 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said in its annual NIIP report. The growth largely reflected an increase in holdings of overseas marketable securities by residents in Taiwan, as well as a
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