APPAREL
US brands back in Japan
Forever 21 and American Eagle Outfitters Inc are set to return to Japan after both US fast-fashion brands exited the market in 2019, the companies announced yesterday. Forever 21 is to begin e-commerce sales in February next year and open a physical store in the spring, said Japanese trading company Itochu Corp, which acquired domestic sales and licensing rights for the brand. American Eagle said separately it was returning to Japan next month with two flagship stores in the Tokyo neighborhoods of Shibuya and Ikebukuro.
INSURANCE
AIA to acquire MediCard
AIA Group Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire MediCard Philippines Inc, people familiar with the matter said, as the insurance giant seeks to boost its presence in Southeast Asia. AIA and MediCard are finalizing the details of a transaction and could reach an agreement in the coming weeks after the Hong Kong-based insurance company outbid other insurers and investment funds, the people said. A deal could value the Philippine healthcare company at more than US$350 million, the people said. MediCard is the only health maintenance organization in the Philippines that was founded and managed by doctors, its Web site said.
TELECOMS
Niel invests in Vodafone
French billionaire telecoms executive Xavier Niel, the founder and majority owner of Iliad SA, has bought a 2.5 percent stake in Britain’s Vodafone PLC through an investment vehicle. The vehicle, Atlas Investissement, said Vodafone was an “attractive investment opportunity, as per the quality of its assets portfolio and the solid underlying trends in the global telecommunications sector.” Atlas said it was supportive of Vodafone’s publicly stated intention to pursue consolidation opportunities, as well as its efforts in infrastructure separation. Niel has telecoms investments in nine countries in Europe with nearly 50 million active subscribers and more than 10 billion euros (US$9.9 billion) of revenue, Atlas said.
PUBLISHING
Spotify launches audiobooks
The expanding audio books market has a major new retailer: Spotify. The music streaming service on Tuesday announced its long-rumored audiobook initiative, launching a store that includes more than 300,000 titles, including such popular works as Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, Michelle Obama’s Becoming and Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us.” “We’ve always believed that the potential for audio is limitless, and have been saying for a while now that our ambition is to be the complete package for everyone’s listening needs,’’ Spotify vice president and global head of audiobooks Nir Zicherman said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cap set on energy bills
The government yesterday said it would cap wholesale energy bills for businesses this winter as part of a package of measures to protect people and companies from soaring energy prices. Prime Minister Liz Truss said the cap would apply for six months from Oct. 1 and would ensure businesses “are able to get through the winter.” She added that shops and pubs would benefit from financial help on their energy bills beyond the initial support period. “We’ll make sure that the most vulnerable businesses like pubs, like shops, continue to be supported after that,” said Truss, who is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
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