AVIATION
GE nears US$30bn deal
General Electric Co (GE) is nearing a US$30 billion-plus deal to combine its aircraft-leasing business with Ireland’s AerCap Holdings NV, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. Details of how the deal would be structured were not immediately known, but an announcement was expected yesterday, assuming the talks do not fall apart, the Journal said. The unit, known as GE Capital Aviation Services, is one of the world’s biggest jet-leasing companies and leases passenger aircraft made by companies including Boeing Co and Airbus SE. It owns, services or has on order about 1,650 aircraft, according to its Web site.
BANKING
DBS docks CEO’s pay
DBS Holdings Group Ltd cut chief executive officer Piyush Gupta’s total compensation for last year by 24 percent after Southeast Asia’s largest lender posted its first annual drop in profit for four years. The bank slashed Gupta’s bonus by 27 percent, resulting in a 24 percent decline in his overall compensation to S$9.2 million (US$6.8 million) for the performance year, down from S$12.1 million a year earlier, DBS said in its annual report yesterday. The reduction reflects the “extremely challenging operating environment,” it said. Excluding his pay, the median decline in total remuneration and variable pay of the bank’s management committee members for 2019 and last year was 12 percent and 17 percent respectively.
BANKING
ECB watching crisis-hit firm
European Central Bank (ECB) supervisors have asked banks for details about outstanding loans to Greensill Capital and its client GFG Alliance, the Financial Times reported, citing four people familiar with the matter. Regulators are asking for the details as they try to determine whether a crisis is contained, the report said. Three more directors of Greensill Capital have resigned as the trade-finance company faces a fight for survival following the flight of its top backers. One person told the newspaper that the move was standard and did not reflect heightened concern. Apollo Global Management’s talks to acquire part of Greensill were at “full speed” over the weekend, and “a lot of technical details still need to be ironed out,” one person told the paper.
BANKING
Central banks lack diversity
Just one of the 31 central bank governors appointed last year was a woman, with Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Hong joining a global group that now consists of 15 female central bank chiefs, according to the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum’s latest gender balance report. That means not even one in 10 central banks is headed by a woman. “While attention is on new accommodative monetary policy measures and lending operations, central banks should not fall behind on measures to correct the lack of diversity,” the forum said.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Meitu invests in crypto
China’s Meitu Inc (美圖), taking a page from Tesla Inc, has become the latest corporation to invest in cryptocurrency as digital coin prices head into the stratosphere. Meitu, which makes an app that helps touch up user-profile pictures, on Sunday said it bought 15,000 units of ether for US$22.1 million and 379.1 bitcoins for US$17.9 million on the open market on Friday.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process