FRANCE
Economic activity recovers
Economic activity last month almost reached pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels as businesses largely shrugged off some renewed restrictions while supply difficulties increasingly constrained production. Activity was 1 to 1.5 percent below normal, the highest it has been since the pandemic struck, according to the Bank of France’s monthly survey of 8,500 firms. While business leaders expect a similar performance for this month, the share of companies reporting supply difficulties rose for the third consecutive month to 49 percent last month. In construction, the measure was stable at 60 percent. The auto industry has suffered particularly from a shortage of semiconductors as order books fill up.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla mandates masks
Tesla Inc has told workers at its Nevada battery factory they would be required to wear a mask indoors starting yesterday regardless of vaccination status, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Workers at the Reno, Nevada-area facility had previously been required to wear a mask if they were not vaccinated, but could avoid that requirement if they were, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter. Tesla is the latest company to mandate masks after the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 forced the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse course and recommend that even fully vaccinated individuals wear masks indoors.
INSURANCE
Westpac to sell unit
Westpac Banking Corp has agreed to sell its life insurance unit to Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc’s Australian subsidiary TAL for A$900 million (US$660 million) as Australia’s second-largest lender continues to jettison non-core assets to focus on lending. The completion of the transaction is expected to happen in the second half of next year, Westpac said in a statement yesterday. Under the agreement, Westpac is to enter a 20-year exclusive strategic alliance with TAL to provide the bank’s customers with life insurance products. “This transaction is another step in simplifying the bank while continuing to help customers with their life insurance needs,” Jason Yetton, Westpac’s specialist businesses and group strategy head, said in the statement.
TOBACCO
Philip Morris raises offer
Philip Morris International Inc raised its offer for Vectura Group PLC to US$1.4 billion, two days after private-equity firm Carlyle increased its bid for the British asthma drug maker, highlighting the cigarette maker’s drive to shift away from cigarettes and nicotine. The company on Sunday offered ￡1.65 per share for Vectura, following Carlyle’s Friday bid of ￡1.55. Carlyle initially agreed in May to buy Vectura, a maker of inhalers and nebulizers, before Philip Morris emerged with a competing offer.
INVESTMENT
Berkshire profit up 7 percent
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Saturday reported a 7 percent gain in profit for the second quarter, as many of the conglomerate’s businesses recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Berkshire Hathaway, based in Omaha, Nebraska, said it earned US$28.1 billion, or US$18,488 per Class A share, during the second quarter. A year earlier, Berkshire reported a profit of US$26.3 billion, or US$16,314 per Class A per share. Operating earnings improved to US$6.7 billion, or US$4,400 per Class A share, during the quarter.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
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
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
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