CYBERSECURITY
IRS puts Equifax in review
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) suspended a US$7.25 million contract with credit reporting company Equifax Inc on Friday, after members of the US Congress complained that the tax agency had awarded a no-bid contract to the company, which recently had a massive data beach. The IRS had contracted with Equifax to validate the identity of taxpayers communicating with the agency on the telephone or through its Web site. The IRS said it suspended the contract as “a precautionary step” while it reviews the firm’s security systems.
TECHNOLOGY
Facebook ventures into food
Facebook Inc wants to be a bigger player in the restaurant game. The social network has announced a new feature that will let users buy meals through third-party delivery services like DoorDash, or directly from a group of restaurants such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc and Five Guys. Facebook said it has no plans to hire drivers and deliver food, but hopes the new feature will keep users on its Web site longer.
TECHNOLOGY
Uber to stay in Quebec
Uber Technologies Inc is backing down on a threat to shutter its operations in Quebec this weekend. The San Francisco-based company on Friday announced that it would not pull the plug after all because it hopes to reach a deal with the province’s new transport minister in the coming months. The company on Friday also filed its appeal against a decision by Transport for London (TfL) not to renew its license. TfL last month said it would not renew Uber’s license to operate in the city owing to public safety concerns.
STEELMAKING
Kobes scandal widens
Japan’s Kobe Steel Ltd on Friday said that a snowballing falsified data scandal had affected around 500 customers, more than twice as many as initially thought. More than 30 foreign customers were affected, including Boeing Co, Airbus SE, General Motors Co, Tesla Inc, Daimler AG and PSA Group, according to Japan’s leading Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily. However, Japan’s No. 3 steelmaker insisted that the affected products did not appear to pose a safety risk.
CHINA
Credit gauge tops predictions
China’s broadest gauge of new credit exceeded projections, signaling that the funding taps remain open, even as the government pushes to curb excessive borrowing. Aggregate financing stood at 1.82 trillion yuan (US$276 billion) last month, the People’s Bank of China said yesterday, compared with 1.48 trillion yuan a month earlier. New yuan loans stood at 1.27 trillion yuan, while the broad M2 money supply increased 9.2 percent, picking up from the prior record low.
HONG KONG
Exchange to request tax cut
Hong Kong’s exchange operator is considering asking the government to remove or reduce a trading tax on stock transactions, as part of a review of the levy, according to a person familiar with the bourse’s thinking. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) made promoting the financial services sector part of her policy platform, a stance that encouraged Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd to discuss the tax, known as stamp duty, the person said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”