GERMANY
Lockdowns cut into GDP
Leading research institutes cut their joint GDP growth forecast for Europe’s biggest economy for next year as prolonged lockdowns hold back its recovery. The downgrade to GDP growth of 3.7 percent, from 4.7 percent previously, reflects a sluggish vaccination campaign, which has forced the government to extend COVID-19 restrictions. The outlook for next year was upgraded to 3.9 percent from 2.7 percent. The economy likely shrank by 1.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research economic director Torsten Schmidt said in a report.
BANKING
No Toshiba buy: Norinchukin
Japan’s Norinchukin Bank denied a report that it and state-backed Japan Investment Corp (JIC) are considering a possible buyout of Toshiba Corp. Nikkan Kogyo reported earlier that the two institutions and possibly other bidders could make an offer for the Japanese conglomerate. The plan would have aimed to relist the company in two years, the report said, without specifying its sources. “There is no such fact,” a Norinchukin Bank spokesman said. JIC representatives declined to comment. Toshiba shares yesterday were up about 1.6 percent in Tokyo trading, extending a week-long rally that had added 14 percent to its value.
PHILIPPINES
Banks must ‘know staff’
The central bank has approved rules that would tighten banks’ know-your-employee procedures, as financial frauds surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Banks and financial institutions must adopt risk-focused screening that takes into account the sensitivities of positions that might require more stringent procedures, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement. There must be an adequate understanding of a candidate’s background and character, conflicts of interest and “a propensity to commit fraud or irregularity,” it said, adding that central bank records should be used in the screening process.
AUTOMAKERS
SsangYong goes bankrupt
South Korea’s SsangYong Motor Co has been put under court receivership, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court said yesterday, in an attempt to rehabilitate the automaker after majority owner Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd failed to secure a buyer. SsangYong applied to the court in December last year for receivership after it defaulted on a loan repayment. The South Korean automaker is expected to submit a rehabilitation plan to the court by June. SsangYong has said its sales last year fell more than 20 percent from a year earlier to 107,416 vehicles. Operating loss widened to 449 billion won (US$402.62 million) from 282 billion won a year earlier. Revenue fell 19 percent to 3 trillion won.
MANUFACTURING
Toilet paper to use bamboo
Canada’s biggest toilet paper manufacturer aims to make some of its tissue from bamboo as an environmentally sustainable option for consumers. Kruger Products LP, the maker of brands such as Cashmere and Purex toilet papers, is researching ways to turn bamboo into quality tissue, with the goal of adding it to its EnviroCare line, likely by 2023, chief executive officer Dino Bianco said. Bamboo is considered a renewable natural resource because it is a perennial that grows quickly. It accounts for just 1 percent of North American toilet paper, Bianco said. The Mississauga, Ontario-based company would likely buy the raw material from Asia, Bianco said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in