US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he has someone “very specific in mind” to be the next chairman of the US Federal Reserve and will be announcing his choice this week.
“It will be a person who hopefully will do a fantastic job,” Trump said in a video address he tweeted out late on Friday. “I think everybody will be very impressed, but most importantly, I think at the end of eight years, you really will be impressed because things are looking good.”
Trump did not give any hints about the person he has selected, but various media reports on Friday said that current Fed Chair Janet Yellen most likely would not be offered a second term and that Trump is instead leaning toward Fed board member Jay Powell, who until recently was the only Republican on the Fed board.
Asked about those reports during a briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she could confirm that the announcement is expected next week, but “beyond that I don’t have any other details to offer.”
In the video remarks he tweeted out, Trump said he knew that “people are anxiously awaiting my decision as to who the next head of the Fed will be.”
Yellen’s four-year term ends in February.
Trump earlier this week said his choice was down to “two and maybe three people.”
That group is believed to include Yellen, Powell and John Taylor, a Stanford University economist.
The group of finalists originally also included former Fed board member Kevin Warsh and US National Economic Adviser Gary Cohn, who heads the president’s National Economic Council. However, the White House let it be known this week that Trump wanted to keep Cohn in his current job to help push the administration’s tax cut plan through the US Congress.
Trump said in the video that things were looking good for the country and the US economy.
Earlier in the day, the government reported that the overall economy, as measured by the GDP, grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the July-September quarter, after 3.1 percent growth in the second quarter, representing the strongest back-to-back quarters of GDP growth in three years.
“We’ve got a lot of jobs coming into our country. Go out and get a good one,” Trump said in the video. “Wages are going up, the economy is strong. Have fun. God bless America.”
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
EXPECTATIONS: The firm, which is on track to outpace global foundry industry revenue growth, said it expects constrained advanced process capacity amid stronger AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday increased its projected revenue growth for this year to above 25 percent, as stronger-than-expected demand for premium smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) devices are to drive greater utilization of cutting-edge 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer chips. In April TSMC estimated 21 to 24 percent annual growth. The firm’s revenue growth is on track to greatly outpace the global foundry industry, which is expected to rise about 10 percent this year. “Over the past three months, we have observed stronger AI and high-end smartphone demand from our customers, which is to boost the overall capacity utilization for our leading-edge
INVESTMENT: The company’s planned complex in Texas would be the first 12-inch silicon wafer fab built in the US in more than 20 years, a GlobalWafers official said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it secured up to US$400 million in direct funding from the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act for the construction of two new advanced fabs in the US. Its subsidiaries GlobalWafers America and MEMC LLC are to build a 12-inch silicon wafer fab in Sherman, Texas, and another one in Missouri to produce silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers used to make leading-edge chips. “With the support of the [US President Joe] Biden Administration, we are honored to be bringing to American shores the world’s most cutting-edge 12-inch semiconductor
Nikon Corp is fielding strong demand for its legacy chipmaking machines in China, which is mobilizing resources to build its own semiconductor supply chain. Inquiries for the Japanese precision maker’s lithography tools have surged in China, Nikon president Muneaki Tokunari said. The company is set to revamp a lithography machine geared for decades-old manufacturing processes. Its NSR-2205iL1, launching this summer, would serve the market for mature chip technology and Nikon expects to sell more than 10 units of the machine annually, said Tokunari, who is also chief operating officer and chief financial officer. New companies are sprouting up in China to make