GERMANY
Business morale weaker
Business morale worsened for the second consecutive month this month, a survey showed yesterday, indicating that Europe’s largest economy faces an uphill battle to shake off recession. The Ifo institute said its business climate index stood at 88.5 following a reading of 91.5 last month. A Reuters poll of analysts had predicted a fall to 90.7. “Sentiment in the German economy has clouded over noticeably,” Ifo president Clemens Fuest said. Expectations were significantly more pessimistic, falling to 83.6 this month from 88.3 last month. Companies also assessed their current situation more poorly, with the sentiment evaluating current conditions falling to 93.7 from 94.8.
SINGAPORE
Factory output slumps
Industrial output has fallen the most since November 2019, as the electronics segment continued to be the main drag on growth. Factory output last month declined 10.8 percent from a year earlier, worse than the 7.3 percent drop predicted in a Bloomberg survey, marking the eighth straight month of contraction. Production of electronics, which accounts for the largest weight in the city-state’s export-driven manufacturing sector, plunged 23 percent year-on-year, with semiconductors seeing the cluster’s worst drop. The chemicals industry saw output drop 9.5 percent, while the biomedical sector grew 4.4 percent.
E-COMMERCE
JD.com sets up retail arm
JD.com Inc (京東) is to create an independent unit by merging its 7Fresh (七鮮) supermarket chain with other online services, establishing a retailer of fresh food and groceries that serves millions nationwide. China’s No. 2 e-commerce company plans to set up what it called an “Innovative Retail” operation that includes 7Fresh supermarkets, group-buying platform Pinpin (拼拼), as well as on-demand services, a person familiar with the matter said. Yan Xiaobing (閆小兵), the former head of JD.com’s international business, is to lead the unit effective yesterday and report directly to JD.com chief executive Sandy Xu (許冉), the person said.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Binance market share falls
Binance Holdings Ltd (幣安) is reeling under the impact of increased regulatory scrutiny, with the exchange platform’s market share languishing near a one-year low, data from research firm Kaiko showed. Binance’s spot trading market share was little changed at 56 percent through yesterday from each of the two months prior, Kaiko data showed. That is the lowest since August last year after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the firm and its founder Zhao Changpeng (趙長鵬) on June 5. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange saw its daily market share plunge to as low as 47 percent on April 6, just after a separate lawsuit from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
PROPERTY
SBB eyes Brookfield deal
Sweden’s Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB (SBB) has entered into exclusive discussions with Brookfield Asset Management Inc to sell its remaining 51 percent stake in a subsidiary as the troubled landlord seeks to pay off debt. SBB started talks to sell the stake in SBB EduCo AB and repay an intercompany loan of 14.5 billion kronor (US$1.35 billion) from EduCo to SBB after “having recently received an expression of interest from Brookfield,” the firm said in a statement on Sunday. SBB is struggling to manage an US$8 billion debt pile.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
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
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