■ECONOMY
Star industry list to expand
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) will expand the government’s list of new star industries to include the patterned innovation, green building, information and communications technology (ICT) and smart electric car sectors. Wu’s predecessor, Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), had already designated specialty agriculture, green energy, healthcare, tourism, cultural innovation and biotechnology as industries with outstanding potential. The four new sectors will be added to the list, Wu said on Friday as he attended the closing ceremony of a training course for local leaders sponsored by the southern branch of the Executive Yuan in Kaohsiung.
■DUBAI DEBT
Japan firms owed US$7.5bn
Japan’s non-financial firms had about US$7.5 billion in uncollected bills from the Dubai government and its affiliated firms as of the end of October, the Nikkei business daily reported yesterday. The data, excluding bank loans, were derived from a total of 18 projects worth about US$15 billion and involving Japanese general contractors, trading houses and electric machinery manufacturers, the daily said. The figures include public works projects commissioned by the Dubai government, it added.
■AUTOMAKERS
VW targets India growth
Volkswagen AG (VW), Europe’s biggest carmaker, said it aims to capture as much as 10 percent of India’s car market in four to six years as it boosts sales in emerging markets. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company will sell cars under three brands, including Skoda and Audi AG, to achieve its targets, VW said in a statement in Chakan near Pune in western India. Production of its Polo compact car began yesterday at the plant, which opened earlier this year.
■CONSUMER GOODS
P&G buys Ambi Pur
Procter & Gamble Co (P&G), the world’s largest consumer-goods company, agreed to buy Sara Lee Corp’s Ambi Pur brand for about 320 million euros (US$468 million) to boost air-freshener sales outside the US. Ambi Pur will help Procter & Gamble expand in Europe, Australia, Africa and some countries in Asia. The sale is expected to close in the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30 next year.
■ECONOMY
OECD points to recovery
The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said its leading economic indicator for member countries improved in October, led by increases in Germany, the UK and Russia. The indicator increased by 1 point from September to 101.4, the Paris-based organization said in a statement on Friday. That is 5.7 points higher than in October last year and the highest reading since April last year. The indicator “continues to point to a recovery,” the OECD said in a statement.
■INVESTMENT
Citigroup sued over EMI deal
Citigroup Inc was sued over the 2007 acquisition of EMI Group Ltd by private-equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd, which said the bank misrepresented that another firm was bidding on the record company. Terra Firma sued to recover “lost equity of billions of dollars” and obtain punitive damages from Citigroup, which stood to garner substantial fees from the deal as investment adviser and lender to EMI and sole financier to the private-equity company, according to a complaint filed on Friday in the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.
AI AIM: The chipmaker wants joint research and development programs with the Czech Republic, and the government is considering supporting investments in a Czech location Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to build more plants in Europe with a focus on the market for artificial intelligence (AI) chips as the chipmaker expands its global footprint, a senior Taiwanese official said. “They have started construction of the first fab in Dresden; they are already planning the next few fabs in the future for different market sectors as well,” National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) told Bloomberg TV in an interview that aired yesterday. Wu did not specify a timeline for TSMC’s further expansion in Europe. TSMC in an e-mailed statement said it
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
WEAK DEMAND: A further decline in China’s consumer price index has prompted renewed calls for fiscal stimulus before deflationary expections become entrenched China’s consumer inflation unexpectedly eased last month, while producer price deflation deepened, heightening pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus measures quickly to revive flagging demand and shaky economic activity. Chinese Minister of Finance Lan Foan (藍佛安) told a news conference on Saturday there would be more “counter-cyclical measures” this year, but officials did not provide details on the size or timing of the fiscal stimulus being prepared, which investors hope would ease deflationary pressures in the world’s second-largest economy. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4 percent from a year earlier last month, the slowest in three months, compared with