REAL ESTATE
Singapore raises stamp duty
Singapore is raising property taxes to cool its red-hot housing market, amid mounting concern that an influx of wealth into the city-state is hurting affordability for locals and its competitiveness as a financial hub. The government is increasing stamp duties for second-home buyers and foreigners purchasing private property, it said in a statement. For foreigners buying any home, the tax rate doubled to 60 percent from 30 percent. The city-state’s property sector has remained buoyant even as countries elsewhere face slowdowns due to soaring interest rates and inflation, partly due to an inflow of money, especially from the wealthy Chinese. A shortage of supply and rising construction costs during the COVID-19 pandemic propelled home prices and rents, fueling discontent among residents.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota posts top production
Toyota Motor Corp cemented its position atop the world’s automaking giants, producing a record 10.7 million vehicles as a group for the 12 months ended March 31, due to increased capacity and production optimization in North America and Asia. Global sales, which include brands such as Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, came in at 10.6 million units, up 1.7 percent on strong demand, Toyota said in a statement yesterday. Output of Toyota-branded vehicles and Lexus models was 9.13 million units, in line with what the company had forecast earlier. A better supply of chips following the prolonged global semiconductor dearth helped Toyota move away from COVID-19-induced production snarls.
SEMICONDUCTORS
STMicro revenue increases
STMicroelectronics NV’s net revenue in the first quarter of this year rose 20 percent from a year earlier, as demand from vehicle makers and industry customers insulated it from a broader downturn in the semiconductor industry. The Franco-Italian chipmaker’s net revenue rose to US$4.25 billion in the period, the company said in a statement yesterday. Demand for STMicro products has been driven by customers such as Tesla Inc in its automotive unit, which is the company’s largest business area and has benefited from growing electric vehicle sales. Its industry division is expected to be another key area of growth this year as factories become more connected, STMicro said in January.
PHARMACEUTICALS
AstraZeneca profits buoyant
AstraZeneca yesterday beat expectations for first-quarter profit and revenue, as buoyant sales of cancer drug Imfinzi and strong demand for its roster of drugs in emerging markets helped to offset dwindling COVID-19 product sales. The company’s sales and outlook highlight the rapid decline of its COVID-19 vaccine, its best-selling product in 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has struggled to compete with rival shots developed by Pfizer and Moderna. The London-listed drugmaker, which reports its results in US dollars, reported adjusted profit of US$1.92 per share on sales of about US$10.9 billion. Analysts were expecting about US$1.71 per share on sales of about US$10.6 billion, company-compiled estimates showed. The company’s cancer drug Imfinzi generated US$900 million in the quarter, beating estimates of US$735 million from brokerage Cowen. Sales of its COVID-19 vaccine dropped to US$28 million in the first quarter, compared with US$1.14 billion a year earlier, as the company lost ground to rival mRNA shots.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the