PHILIPPINES
GDP growth slows in Q2
Economic growth slowed in the second quarter, officials said yesterday, warning that surging inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic would weigh on the outlook for the rest of the year. GDP rose 7.4 percent, slightly weaker than the 7.5 percent expected and down from 8.2 percent in the previous three months, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told reporters. “We’re likely to face challenges indeed in sustaining that growth,” he said, with the pace seen easing further in the second half. However, the economy should still hit the official target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent expansion this year, he added.
HOUSING
US buying sentiment dips
Consumers have become the most pessimistic about housing since 2011, when home prices bottomed in the wake of the global financial crisis, data from the Federal National Mortgage Association showed on Monday. Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade, as consumers expressed pessimism about home-buying prospects. The index, which reflects consumers’ views on the housing market, fell from about 76 to 63 year-on-year. Four of the index’s six components dropped month-on-month, including views on buying and selling conditions, home-price outlook and job-loss concerns, Fannie Mae said, citing its national housing survey.
MEDIA
Cox to buy Axios
US news Web site Axios Media, which has shot to prominence since its 2016 founding, has agreed to a US$525 million deal to sell itself to US telecom group Cox Enterprises Inc, the firms said on Monday. Since Axios’ launch as a news source specializing in technology and politics, it has expanded into local news — and the buyout investment would help grow that expansion. The founders of Axios, built by long-time Washington journalists, will keep stakes in the company and continue to lead day-to-day editorial and business decisions, Cox said in a release.
CHEMICALS
SABIC profit rises 3.8%
Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) reported a 3.8 percent increase in quarterly earnings, but warned that profit margins would remain “under pressure” as costs climb. Prices of products such as polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride have jumped as economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting demand. Yet a supply-chain squeeze has pushed up expenses for producers. SABIC said net income rose to 7.93 billion riyals (US$2.11 billion) in the second quarter from 7.64 billion riyals a year earlier. Revenue climbed 32 percent to 56 billion riyals, beating analysts’ estimates.
INSURANCE
Munich Re profit falls
German reinsurance giant Munich Re yesterday reported a drop in its second-quarter profit, as market volatility took a toll on investments, but the firm maintained its performance target for this year. The group’s preliminary net profit from April to June reached 768 million euros (US$786 million), down from 1.1 billion euros in the same period last year. Munich Re, whose business consists mostly in covering the risks taken on by insurers, said the value of its holdings had slumped by 908 million euros, mainly due to losses on equity investments. Its profit target of 3.3 billion euros for this year remains unchanged, it said.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to