■ ECONOMY
Brazilian GDP up 5.2%
Latin America's biggest economy grew more than 5 percent last year, boosted by high global demand for Brazilian ethanol, iron ore and agricultural products, as well as a booming domestic market, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday. Mantega said GDP grew between 5.2 percent and 5.3 percent last year. The government reported expansion of 5.7 percent in the third quarter of last year, largely because of big gains in the agricultural and industrial sectors. Mantega said industrial output is expected to grow by more than the 6 percent posted last year.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Strike grinds on
The United Auto Workers and auto parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc negotiated all day on Friday, trying to end an 11-day strike that has affected dozens of factories in the US and Canada. The bargaining came as General Motors Corp said parts shortages from the strike would force it to shut down part or all of 28 assembly and components factories. On Friday, GM added 17 components plants to the growing list and said on its Web site that the affected plants employ more than 37,000 hourly workers. All 17 additional plants are scheduled to go on partial shutdown starting tomorrow, the Detroit-based automaker said.
■ GLASS
Corning may ditch Steuben
Corning Inc, the biggest maker of glass for flat-panel displays, may sell or close its unprofitable Steuben Glass luxury crystal unit. Steuben, founded in 1903, has been losing money for "a few years," spokeswoman Kelli Hopp-Michlosky said yesterday in an e-mailed message. If Corning can't find a buyer, it will consider closing the business, which has about US$25 million in annual revenue and employs 150 people, she said. A sale would allow Corning to focus on its other businesses. Almost half of its sales come from liquid-crystal-display glass, where orders have surged as manufacturers switch to producing high-definition TV sets.
■ BEVERAGES
Carlsberg can buy brewer
EU competition regulators on Friday approved Danish brewer Carlsberg's purchase of some of the assets of British rival Scottish and Newcastle. Scottish and Newcastle in January accepted a £7.8 billion (US$15.5 billion) takeover bid by Carlsberg of Denmark and Heineken of the Netherlands. Under the deal, Carlsberg and Heineken are to split Scottish and Newcastle's assets between them. Carlsberg will take Scottish and Newcastle's half of their joint Russian venture Baltic Beverages Holding, which makes Russia's Baltika beer, and its Chinese, French, Greek and Vietnamese operations. Heineken, meanwhile, will take businesses in Belgium, Britain, Finland, India, Ireland, Portugal and the US.
■ STEEL
Workers poisoned
Workers at an Arcelor Mittal steelworks in Bosnia sought medical attention for nausea and vomiting after eating a special meal provided by the company to mark its "health and safety day" on Thursday. "Some 163 workers ... reported having stomach problems this morning. Ninety sought medical attention but only one was hospitalized," said Boba Lizdek, spokeswoman for the steel plant. In addition to a standard lunch, workers were given extra sweets and fruit juice. Meals provided by Arcelor Mittal are prepared by a local catering firm.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
A former ASML Holding NV employee is facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands over suspected theft of trade secrets, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said, in the latest breach of the maker of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment. The 43-year-old Russian engineer, who is suspected of stealing documents such as microchip manuals from ASML, is expected to appear at a court in Rotterdam today, NOS reported on Friday. He is accused of multiple violations of the sanctions legislation and has been given a 20-year entry ban by the Dutch government, the report said. The Dutch company makes machines needed to produce high-end chips that power
Taiwan would remain in the same international network for carrying out cross-border payments and would not be marginalized on the world stage, despite jostling among international powers, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. Yang made the remarks during a speech at an annual event organized by Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊), which oversees Taiwan’s banking, payment and settlement systems. “The US dollar will remain the world’s major cross-border payment tool, given its high liquidity, legality and safe-haven status,” Yang said. Russia is pushing for a new cross-border payment system and highlighted the issue during a BRICS summit in October. The existing system
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