UNITED KINGDOM
Jobless rate falls to 3.8%
Unemployment eased in the three months to the end of April, but wage rises continue to lag inflation, official data showed yesterday. The unemployment rate decreased to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent in the three months to the end of March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. “While there has been another drop in the number of people neither working nor looking for work ... those outside the jobs market due to long-term sickness continues to rise, to a new record,” ONS Economic Statistics Director Darren Morgan said. Morgan said the number of people in work had past its pre-COVID-19-pandemic level for the first time, setting a new high. “The biggest driver in recent jobs growth ... is health and social care, followed by hospitality,” he said.
BEVERAGES
Pernod to buy Ace stake
Pernod Ricard agreed to buy a majority stake in Canada’s Ace Beverage Group as the maker of Absolut Vodka and Jameson Irish Whiskey looks to boost its position in the growing category of pre-mixed cocktails. Pernod’s Canadian affiliate Corby Spirit and Wine is to acquire a 90 percent stake in the closely held Ace at an enterprise value of C$165 million (US$124 million), Pernod said in a statement yesterday. Ace’s flagship brand Cottage Springs is the leading ready-to-drink brand in Ontario, Pernod said, with products that include Cottage Springs Vodka Soda and Tequila Soda. The segment, which includes hard seltzers, is expected to grow 8 percent between last year and 2026, reaching a value of US$11.6 billion across major markets, drinks market analysis firm IWSR has said.
SECURITY
Thales to buy Tesserent
Thales SA has signed an agreement to acquire Australian cybersecurity firm Tesserent Ltd, the French defense contractor announced yesterday. “This acquisition would enable Thales to accelerate its cybersecurity development road map and expand its footprint in Australia and New Zealand,” Thales said in a statement. With 500 employees and turnover last year of A$185 million (US$125 million), Tesserent is one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest cybersecurity companies, it said. “Together we will address the growing cyber needs in our country, including those of the Australian government and defense sectors,” Tesserent CEO Kurt Hansen said in the statement. The proposed acquisition is subject to approval by shareholders, the Australian federal court and the usual regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to be finalized during the second half of this year, Thales said.
TECHNOLOGY
India ‘threatened’ Twitter
India threatened to shut Twitter down unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts, cofounder Jack Dorsey said in an interview with YouTube news show Breaking Points. Dorsey, who quit as Twitter CEO in 2021, on Monday said that India threatened the company with a shutdown and raids on employees if it did not comply with government requests to take down posts and restrict accounts that were critical of the government over protests by farmers in 2020 and 2021. The Indian government has repeatedly denied engaging in online censorship, and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar yesterday said that Dorsey’s assertions were an “outright lie.”
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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