TECHNOLOGY
Intel to cut Mobileye stake
Intel Corp plans to sell part of its holdings in Mobileye Global Inc, to raise about US$1.48 billion for its ambitious spending plans. The US company is offering 35 million shares with an option to sell a further 5.25 million shares of the Israeli automated driving technology maker, Mobileye said on Monday in a regulatory filing. Mobileye stock has more than doubled since its initial public offering in October last year. Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley are to underwrite the sale. Following the sale, Intel would retain about an 88 percent stake in Mobileye, which it bought in 2018 for US$15.3 billion.
CHINA
Deposit rates to shrink
Authorities have asked the nation’s biggest banks to lower their deposit rates for at least the second time in less than a year, people familiar with the matter said. Several state-owned lenders were last week advised to cut rates on a range of products, including on demand deposits by 5 basis points and three-year and five-year time deposits by at least 10 basis points, the people said. Banks are assessing the request and could adjust rates as early as this week, they said. Big lenders currently offer an annualized rate of 0.25 percent on demand deposits, and 2.6 percent and 2.65 percent on three-year and five-year time deposits respectively.
GERMANY
Industrial orders drop again
Industrial orders unexpectedly fell again in April following a sharp drop the month before, official data showed yesterday, adding to concerns about the health of Europe’s biggest economy. New orders, closely watched as a foretaste of future industrial activity, declined 0.4 percent in April from a month earlier, federal statistics agency Destatis said. The drop comes after orders plummeted 10.9 percent in March, the biggest decline since April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread lockdowns.
JAPAN
Real wage slide continues
Workers’ real wages continued to fall in April, even after reflecting some of the gains from a solid win in annual pay negotiations, creating a headache for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as he considers calling an election. Real cash earnings for workers dropped 3 percent from a year earlier in April, slipping for the 13th month, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported yesterday. Nominal cash earnings increased 1 percent from the previous year, it said. A separate report showed that households cut spending in April, an indication that higher prices are sapping consumers’ spending appetite. Household outlays fell 4.4 percent from a year earlier, it said.
GAMING
Microsoft to settle charges
Microsoft Corp is to pay US$20 million to settle government charges that it collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent, officials said on Monday. The US Federal Trade Commission alleged that from 2015 to 2020 Microsoft collected personal data from children under the age of 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system without their parents’ permission and retained the information. The decision still needs the approval of a federal court before it can be implemented. A spokesperson for Microsoft said that Xbox would develop an identity and age validation process to deliver age-appropriate experiences.
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
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
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
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