UNITED KINGDOM
Unemployment drops
Unemployment fell unexpectedly to the lowest since 1974 as people dropped out of the workforce at a record rate. The government said that 3.5 percent of adults were looking for work in the three months through August, down from 3.6 percent the month before and a rate last lower in 1974. Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng hailed the figures as indicating strength in the UK. “The fundamentals of the UK economy remain resilient, with unemployment at its lowest point for almost 50 years,” Kwarteng said in a statement. Average earnings growth excluding bonuses accelerated to 5.4 percent, Office for National Statistics figures showed.
AUSTRALIA
Confidence near historic low
Consumer confidence is hovering around historic lows at the same time as business conditions strengthen, reinforcing a divide between households and corporates’ experiences in the economy. Westpac Banking Corp’s index of consumer sentiment slid to 83.7, highlighting that pessimists easily outweigh optimists with the divide at 100. Shortly after, National Australia Bank Ltd’s business conditions — measuring hiring, sales and profits — rose above their pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak. The contrast likely reflects policy lags, with the Reserve Bank of Australia hiking interest rates by 2.5 percentage points since May as it tries to rein in inflation.
AIRLINES
Region’s outlook improves
Passenger airline traffic in the Asia-Pacific region should recover to about 73 percent of 2019 levels by the end of the year as travel restrictions relax, up from 53 percent in August, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday. “There is no mistaking I think the momentum is very strong especially with all major markets in the Asia-Pacific now open except for China,” IATA Asia-Pacific vice president Philip Goh (吳仕綿) told reporters on a webinar. Taiwan’s border controls are to ease tomorrow. The year-end traffic estimate is based on China opening its borders soon, although the actual date remains unclear, Goh said.
AUTOMAKERS
NEV China sales rise
New-energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China retained their strong momentum last month, led by record sales from local automaker BYD Co (比亞迪) and US electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc. Total NEV sales, which include pure-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, rose 83 percent from a year earlier to 611,000 units, China Passenger Car Association data released yesterday showed. BYD sold just over 200,000 vehicles for the first time, while Tesla delivered a record 83,135 vehicles after upgrading production capacity at its Shanghai factory. Overall passenger vehicle sales in China increased 21 percent from a year earlier to 1.95 million units last month, the association said.
TURKEY
Deficit enters 10th month
Turkey’s current account remained in deficit for a 10th consecutive month as the trade balance took a hit from a global rally in energy prices. The deficit widened to US$3.1 billion in August compared with a surplus of US$1.1 billion the same month a year earlier, Turkey’s central bank said yesterday. The shortfall for the first eight months of this year widened to US$39.7 billion. Tourism revenue was US$5.1 billion, with services posting a surplus of US$7.2 billion. Foreign tourist arrivals had risen by an annual 58 percent in August, a separate data release said.
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
RSS