CHINA
Youth unemployment spikes
Unemployment in the country rose in the first months of the year, while youth unemployment spiked, data showed yesterday, as a surge of COVID-19 cases rattled businesses and forced closures. The unemployment rate in cities edged up to 5.5 percent by the end of last month, up from 5.1 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said. However, Beijing reported better-than-expected retail sales and industrial output in January and last month. Retail sales for the first two months rose 6.7 percent year-on-year, while industrial production was up 7.5 percent, the agency said.
MYANMAR
Thai firm to operate Yadana
Thai energy company PTT Exploration and Production PCL has said that it would take over the running of the country’s Yadana gas field following the withdrawal of global giants Chevron Corp and TotalEnergies SE in January. The US and French firms said that they would pull out of the country following growing international pressure from human rights groups to cut financial ties with the military government after last year’s coup. The Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea provides electricity to the country and Thailand, one of a number of gas projects that Human Rights Watch says make up Naypyidaw’s single largest source of foreign currency revenue, generating more than US$1 billion annually.
RETAIL
H&M net sales as expected
Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) yesterday reported an increase in sales from December to last month that was in line with expectations. Net sales in the firm’s fiscal first quarter rose 23 percent year-on-year, or 18 percent measured in local currencies, at 49.2 billion kroner (US$5.14 billion). Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast sales of 49.1 billion kroner. The retailer earlier this month said that it would temporarily close its stores in Russia, which last quarter accounted for 4 percent of group sales.
SINGAPORE
Home sales at 21-month low
Home sales in the city-state slumped to the lowest in 21 months as the residential market slows on cooling measures and higher property taxes. Purchases of new private apartments fell to 527 units last month, figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed yesterday. That is 22.5 percent lower than the 680 units sold in the previous month and the lowest since May 2020, when 487 apartments were sold. The city-state’s home sales might also be affected as the war in Ukraine roils equity markets and raises the prices of commodities, said Christine Sun (孫燕清), senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie (橙易產業). Just a single project was launched last month, amid lower activity during the Lunar New Year holiday, she added.
ARGENTINA
Flour, oil exports frozen
The government on Monday said that it has suspended exports of soybean flour and oil amid rumors that it is planning to hike taxes due to soaring primary material costs blamed on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One expert said that the export freeze is likely a measure to prevent firms from registering future exports before the tax rise takes effect. The country is the world’s largest exporter of soybean flour and oil. Soybean products made up 30 percent of its exports last year, or US$9 billion dollars.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).