EUROPEAN UNION
Inflation fight remains ‘key’
In policy recommendations to be given to member states yesterday, seen by Bloomberg News, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, was to tell national governments that “it will take time for price pressures to disappear” so “combating inflation remains a key policy priority in the coming period.” Officials reiterated that fiscal measures taken to aid consumers and businesses through the energy crisis should be phased out this year, and that they should revert to prudent policies for their public finances to ensure long-term debt sustainability. The annual recommendations to capitals around the region differ from last year’s by elevating inflation as a key challenge for governments to help tackle. A turbulent geopolitical context, the ensuing energy crisis and implementation of the EU’s unprecedented 800 billion euros (US$862 billion) recovery fund have been dominant themes since the previous report.
GERMANY
Business outlook sours
The country’s business outlook deteriorated for the first time since October last year, as a struggling manufacturing sector threatens to undermine the recovery of Europe’s biggest economy. An expectations gauge by the Ifo institute slipped to 88.6 this month from 91.7 the previous month, worse than expected by every single economist in a Bloomberg survey. A measure of current conditions also slipped. “The mood in the German economy has taken a significant hit,” Ifo president Clemens Fuest said in a statement yesterday. “The German economy is skeptical about the summer.”
TECHNOLOGY
Apple, Broadcom join forces
Apple Inc on Tuesday announced a multibillion-dollar collaboration with US tech firm Broadcom Inc to make “cutting-edge” components for wirelessly connecting to high-speed 5G telecom networks. The iPhone maker did not specify exactly how many billions of dollars it would put into the Broadcom alliance, but said it is part of a commitment to invest in the US economy. “All of Apple’s products depend on technology engineered and built here in the United States, and we’ll continue to deepen our investments in the US economy because we have an unshakable belief in America’s future,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement. The alliance would include designing and manufacturing sophisticated radio frequency components and other “cutting-edge wireless connectivity” parts in the US, Apple said.
UNITED STATES
White House hosts forum
The White House hosted a forum for workers whose employers use automated systems to monitor them, and plans a broader effort to ask Americans what priorities the government should pursue regarding artificial intelligence as President Joe Biden weighs new regulations on emerging workplace technologies. The meeting with White House officials on Tuesday would feature employees from call centers, warehouses, healthcare, gig work and the trucking industry, as the administration seeks to better understand how companies deploy automated technology for worker surveillance. Companies including Amazon.com Inc and Uber Technologies Inc have come under criticism from labor groups who say technologies designed to improve performance and efficiency can push them to accept unsafe working conditions.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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