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.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
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