AUTOMAKERS
EV maker Nio cuts prices
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio Inc (蔚來汽車) slashed starting prices on all of its models by 30,000 yuan (US$4,200), days after reporting a worse-than-expected quarterly loss. “This adjustment has been discussed internally for a long time,” chief executive officer William Li (李斌) said in a post on Nio’s app. “There were many things to consider and even until 3am this morning we were still deliberating. Now is the most appropriate time.” The price changes take effect immediately, Nio said. Nio’s sales dipped below 13,000 vehicles in April and last month combined from 31,041 in January to March. The Shanghai-based company, which still aims to sell 250,000 EVs this year, last week said that its first-quarter net loss widened to 4.74 billion yuan from a deficit of 1.78 billion yuan a year earlier.
INDUSTRY
Thyssenkrupp lists unit
German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp AG yesterday launched the listing of its hydrogen unit Nucera, in what is to be one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) so far this year in Europe. Thyssenkrupp said it aimed to raise 500 million to 600 million euros (US$539 million to US$647 million) through the sale of new Nucera shares in Frankfurt, with the IPO expected to be completed “before summer break.” “With our technology for the production of green hydrogen, we want to help shape the new era of sustainable energy use,” Thyssenkrupp Nucera chief executive Werner Ponikwar said in a statement. The proceeds from the Frankfurt listing would be used to support “the strong growth of Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s alkaline water electrolysis business,” the group said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis to buy Chinook
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG yesterday said that it had reached a deal to buy US kidney treatment developer Chinook Therapeutics Inc for up to US$3.5 billion. Chinook Therapeutics, which is based in the northwestern US city of Seattle, is developing two medicines to treat a rare and progressive kidney disease that mostly affects young adults, Novartis said in a statement. Under the agreement, Chinook shareholders are to receive US$3.2 billion in cash, or US$40 per share, which is 67 percent above Friday’s closing price. They would receive an additional US$300 million, or US$4 per share, “upon the achievement of certain regulatory milestones.” Novartis said it expects the transaction to close in the second half of the year, pending the approval of Chinook shareholders and regulators.
SOUTH AFRICA
Food prices continue to rise
Food prices in the country continue to increase at a startling rate, although the pace of acceleration is easing and possibly faster than is reflected in the official data so far. The cost of a basket of goods in Bloomberg’s South African Shisa Nyama Index, designed to show the cost of a traditional backyard barbecue in townships and rural areas, rose 12 percent year-on-year last month, a sharp decline from 19 percent in February and a third consecutive monthly slowdown. A continuation of that trend would provide welcome relief for consumers who are also contending with high fuel prices, widespread unemployment, daily electricity outages and a stagnating economy. Consumer prices rose 6.8 percent year-on-year in April, down from 7.1 percent the previous month, with food prices rising 14.3 percent, according to Statistics South Africa.
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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