AUTOMAKERS
Tesla cuts China prices
Electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc has cut starter prices for its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles by as much as 9 percent in China, listings on the company’s Chinese Web site showed yesterday. The starting price for the Model 3 sedan was reduced to 265,900 yuan (US$36,727) from 279,900 yuan, while that for Model Y sport utility vehicle was cut to 288,900 yuan from 316,900 yuan, the Web site showed. Tesla has been adjusting the prices in line with costs, the company told Reuters in a statement. Capacity utilization at its Shanghai Gigafactory has improved, while the supply chain remains stable, leading to lower costs, it said. The price cut is the first by Tesla in China this year, after it raised the prices for the two models earlier in the year due to rising raw material costs.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Sumitovant to buy Myovant
A fully owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Pharma Co agreed to buy the rest of drugmaker Myovant Sciences Ltd for US$1.7 billion after raising its offer, as it seeks to bolster the development of medicines for women’s health and prostate cancer. Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd, which already owns 52 percent of Myovant, offered US$27 a share cash for the rest of Myovant — 10 percent more than the drugmaker’s closing on Friday, Osaka-based Sumitomo Pharma said in a statement yesterday. The acquisition represents an enterprise value of US$2.9 billion for Myovant, it said. The transaction is scheduled to close in the first quarter of next year, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, Sumitomo Pharma said.
AVIATION
Riyadh, Airbus in talks
Saudi Arabia is in advanced negotiations to order almost 40 A350 jets from Europe’s Airbus SE as part of strategic efforts to launch a new airline and challenge heavyweight carriers in the Persian Gulf, industry sources said. If confirmed, the purchase by the sovereign Public Investment Fund, worth US$12 billion at list prices, could be announced as early as this week when Riyadh hosts a major forum, the Future Investment Initiative, the sources said. It remained unclear whether Boeing Co would also seize part of a substantial shopping list for the new airline, which would be named RIA, the sources said. One source familiar with the negotiations said that it was “not over yet.” The fund has been negotiating to buy about 75 jets and another source said the kingdom was leaning toward the Boeing 787.
SHIPPING
MSC to buy Italian firm
Shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) is to buy Italy’s Rimorchiatori Mediterranei SpA, an e-mailed statement said on Sunday. Deal terms were not disclosed. Through its unit SAS Shipping Agencies Services Sarl, MSC agreed to acquire 100 percent of Rimorchiatori Mediterranei — an international towage operator active in Italy, Malta, Singapore, Malaysia, Norway, Greece and Colombia — from Rimorchiatori Riuniti and a fund managed by DWS’ Infrastructure Investment business, it said in the statement. MSC, the shipping company founded by Gianluigi Aponte, has been recently active in the Italian transport market, where in partnership with Deutsche Lufthansa AG it missed out in the bidding for Alitalia successor ITA Airways as Italy’s government instead selected an investor group led by US fund Certares Management LLC.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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