UNITED KINGDOM
Unemployment rises further
Unemployment rose further in the three months to the end of March, official data showed yesterday, as elevated inflation weighs on the jobs market. The rate increased to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in the three months to the end of February, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Meanwhile, wage growth accelerated in the first quarter, suggesting that there are no convincing signs of an easing in the inflation pressures worrying the Bank of England. Average earnings excluding bonuses rose 6.7 percent in the first three months compared with a year earlier, the statistics office said.
ARGENTINA
Central bank raises rates
The central bank on Monday hiked its base interest rate six points to 97 percent as the government prepares to announce a spate of measures to tackle soaring inflation ahead of October’s general election. It is the second time in less than a month that the bank has ramped up interest rates as year-on-year inflation reached almost 109 percent last month. Inflation hit its highest level in three decades last year, finishing the year at 94.8 percent. However, it has kept on climbing. The cost of living has risen by 31 percent since Jan. 1.
TECHNOLOGY
X Corp buys Laskie
Elon Musk’s X Corp, the parent company of Twitter Inc, has made its first acquisition: a tech talent recruiting service called Laskie, a person familiar with the matter said. The deal, which was part-equity and part-cash, recently closed, the person said. The company matches tech talent with potential employers, saying on its Web site that its tool can “confirm mutual interest, set clear expectations and give visibility into the hiring process.” The acquisition marks one of the billionaire’s first major initiatives since he bought the social media service for US$44 billion in October last year. It is unclear how Musk plans to integrate Laskie into his holding company. As of Monday, its Web site displayed a message that “the Laskie platform is no longer available.”
METALS
India gold imports plunge
India’s gold imports last month plunged 45 percent from a year earlier to a three-month low as a rally in local prices to a record high curtailed demand during a key festival, a government source said yesterday. The country imported 16 tonnes of gold last month, compared with 29 tonnes a year earlier, the source said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak to the media. The average monthly imports last month in the past decade were about 71 tonnes.
CONGLOMERATES
Philips tests recalled devices
Royal Philips NV said new tests on its recalled sleep apnea products showed the vast majority of the devices are unlikely to cause considerable health damage to patients. Tests show being exposed to degraded foam in 95 percent of the breathing apparatuses is “unlikely to result in an appreciable harm to health in patients,” the Netherlands-based health company said yesterday. Philips initiated its first recall of potentially faulty sleep apnea products in June 2021, with the US Food and Drug Administration also labeling those as a Class 1 issue, or the most serious type. The company has set aside about 1 billion euros (US$1.11 billion) for the recall of about 5.5 million devices globally and booked additional provisions of 575 million euros as part of a planned settlement in the US to compensate users.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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