MALAYSIA
Jobless rate falls to 3.5%
The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in February, as growth in all sectors of the economy led to increased labor demand, the Department of Statistics said. Labor force participation in the Southeast Asian nation climbed to 69.9 percent, the highest in records going back to 2010, causing the overall unemployment rate to drop to the lowest since February 2020, the data show. The labor market’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue in line with the broad economy, which is forecast to grow between 4 to 5 percent this year.
TURKEY
Balance stays in red
The country’s current-account balance stayed deep in the red in February, a key vulnerability for the economy as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government tries to keep the lira and inflation in check ahead of elections next month. The shortfall in the broadest measure of trade in goods and services was US$8.78 billion, the central bank said in a report yesterday, more than forecast by economists. That compares with a record deficit in January that was revised to US$10 billion and a gap of US$5.3 billion in February last year. The two main drivers of the deficit have been purchases of energy and gold, especially as households increasingly turned to bullion to shield themselves against inflation that climbed over 85 percent last year.
INDIA
New Delhi ends UK talks
The government has “disengaged” from trade talks with Britain after accusing it of failing to condemn the Sikh extremist group that attacked the Indian High Commission in London last month, The Times reported yesterday, citing British government sources. The incident occurred on March 19, when protesters with “Khalistan” banners staged a demonstration at the High Commission and took down an Indian flag from the building’s first-floor balcony to denounce recent police action in Punjab. “Indians don’t want to talk about trade until they get a very public demonstration of condemnation of Khalistan extremism in the UK,” a Whitehall source told The Times.
INVESTMENT
Berkshire selling yen bonds
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc has started sounding out investors about the sale of yen bonds, having already established itself in recent years as one of the biggest foreign issuers of debt in the Japanese currency. Early guidance for pricing of the three-year portion of the debt is about 70 basis points over mid-swaps, people familiar with the matter said. Multiple tranches are up for sale, with early guidance for the 30-year maturity at roughly 125 basis points, the people said. The deal, if it proceeds, might price on Friday.
ELECTRONICS
Huawei mulls Riyadh HQ
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) is looking to make Riyadh its headquarters for the Middle East amid a push by the Saudi Arabian government to position itself as a regional business hub and growing diplomatic and business ties with China, people familiar with the matter said. The Chinese company, which already has offices in the Saudi capital and other cities across the Middle East, is in talks with Riyadh authorities to upgrade its presence in the country, the people said. The company has headquarters for the region in Dubai and Bahrain.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
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