■ Stocks
Infosys to join NASDAQ-100
Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest software firm, said it was to be included on the NASDAQ-100 index from yesterday, putting it among the biggest listed tech companies in the world. The Bangalore-based firm said in a press statement to the Mumbai stock exchange that inclusion in the closely followed index brings it into the mainstream of globally recognized software firms. "We are delighted to be part of the NASDAQ-100 index," chief financial officer V. Balakrishnan of Infosys said in the statement. The inclusion comes after the company converted 30 million shares worth US$1.6 billion held by Indian investors to US depositary receipts traded on the NASDAQ.
■ Macroeconomics
Inflation speeds up in China
China's consumer inflation picked up speed last month, rising by 1.9 percent from a year earlier, official data showed yesterday. The figure, published by the National Bureau of Statistics, compared with a 1.4 percent increase in October. The consumer price index, the country's main measure of inflation, rose 1.3percent in the first 11 months of the year, the bureau said in a statement. Consumer prices for the full year are also likely to rise 1.3 percent, Ma Kai (馬凱), the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, was quoted as saying in the state-run China Daily newspaper yesterday. The pick-up in inflation last month was led by higher prices for food, which still take up a large proportion of the average Chinese consumer basket. Prices of food rose 3.7 percent last month, with non-food items up just 1 percent, the bureau said.
■ Credit
ADB lends US$1bn to India
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday it is lending US$1 billion, its biggest ever regular loan, to India to improve credit facilities for its hard-up farmers. The program aims to reform India's cooperative credit structure, the Manila-based ADB said in a statement. Set up 102 years ago, the cooperative structure has evolved into one of the largest rural finance systems in the world. However, it now suffers from poor governance, weak portfolio management and recurring losses, the ADB said. "The weaknesses of the cooperative credit structure have immense adverse economic, social and political impacts on the rural sector," said Kunio Senga, director-general of the bank's South Asia department.
■ Energy
Shell revises Sakhalin offer
Royal Dutch Shell PLC has made a new offer to OAO Gazprom on terms for the state-controlled Russian natural gas giant joining a Shell-controlled energy project off the Pacific island of Sakhalin, a Russian news agency reported yesterday. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov was quoted by Interfax as saying that Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer made "a number of proposals" to Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller about the massive liquefied natural gas project at a meeting on Friday, but he gave no details.
■ Casinos
Genting unveils funding plan
Genting International Ltd said yesterday the development of its S$5.2 billion (US$3.38 billion) casino-resort on Singapore's Sentosa Island will be one-third funded by equity. Term loans will provide the balance of the funding for the Resorts World at Sentosa project, the company said in a statement.
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
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