E-COMMERCE
JD to spin off two units
JD.com (京東) is to spin off its industrial and property units and take both of them public, the e-commerce giant said, in the latest reorganization of a major Chinese tech firm. One of the nation’s largest retailers, JD.com’s fortunes were hit hard by heightened scrutiny of big tech by the state, as well as a COVID-19-induced sales slump in recent years. The company said in filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday that its property and industrial arms would be spun off and taken public, but the parent company would retain a controlling stake in both. JD Property operates construction projects across China and dozens of overseas infrastructure works, its Web site says. JD Industrials specializes in supplying mechanical components and electronic products to automakers and other manufacturers. The firm gave no timeline for taking the two firms public, and the size of the share offerings has not been finalized.
UNITED KINGDOM
Disposable income rises
Living standards in the fourth quarter rose for the first time in more than a year, a sign that cost-of-living crisis is easing. Adjusted for inflation, household disposable incomes per head rose 1.2 percent, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. It follows four consecutive quarters of decline that left families more than 3 percent poorer. Overall growth for the period was revised higher. Separate figures showed that GDP rose 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, better than the zero growth previously recorded. That followed a 0.1 percent decline in the third, revised from a 0.2 percent drop. It means Britain avoided a recession last year, but output was still 0.6 percent lower than its pre-pandemic level, making the UK the only G7 economy that has yet to fully recover. Disposable income per head fell 2.3 percent last year, the most since 2011, as wages failed to keep pace with runaway inflation.
GERMANY
Jobless rate rises to 5.6%
Unemployment rose more than expected as the nation slowly emerges from a downturn stoked by an energy crisis and inflation. Joblessness increased by 16,000 last month, the Federal Employment Agency said in a statement yesterday. That was more than all of the 20 estimates in a Bloomberg poll of analysts. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.6 percent — also higher than predicted. “Overall, the labor market was robust in March,” agency Chairwoman Andrea Nahles said. “However, the weak economy is leaving its mark: The spring revival is only taking hold in a restrained way.” Economists expect the economy to shrink in the first quarter, which would put it into a shallow recession after output contracted 0.4 percent in the final three months of last year. However, recent data have pointed to growing confidence among businesses that the worst of the energy crunch is over.
SEMICONDUCTORS
S Korea output plummets
South Korean chipmakers in February reduced their production by the most since 2008, a sign of declining chip demand that might be deeper and longer-lasting than feared. Production dropped 41.8 percent from a year earlier, worsening from a 33.9 percent fall in January, Statistics Korea data showed. Inventories increased 33.5 percent and factory shipments fell 41.6 percent, adding to signs of continued weakness. Chipmakers are important constituents of South Korea’s trade-reliant economy, accounting for about 12 percent of its total exports in February.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
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