SWITZERLAND
Inflation below 2% target
Inflation slowed to below the 2 percent ceiling targeted by the Swiss National Bank, offering limited reassurance to officials who have already signaled further tightening is likely. Consumer prices last month rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier, down from 2.2 percent the previous month, as energy costs fell from a year earlier. Underlying inflation, which strips out such volatile elements, also slowed to 1.8 percent, the Federal Statistical Office said. The so-called gauge had already fallen below the central bank’s ceiling last month, while the headline number now shows the weakest pace of price growth since January last year.
SINGAPORE
Vice PM to lead central bank
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) is to become chairman of the central bank, as well as the investment strategies committee of the sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, separate statements said yesterday. Wong, who is also the city-state’s finance minister, is succeeding Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and GIC. His MAS appointment runs from Saturday to May 31, 2026, and his GIC role is effective Friday. Wong, broadly seen as the prime minister-in-waiting, has been deputy chairman of the MAS since June 2021. Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong (顏金勇) was named deputy chairman of the MAS.
CHINA
PBOC names CCP chief
Beijing has named Pan Gongsheng (潘功勝) as the central bank’s new Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief, putting him in line to be the next governor. The decision was made at a People’s Bank of China (PBOC) meeting of top cadres on Saturday, the central bank said in a statement. Pan, 59, is a deputy governor at the central bank with extensive experience in commercial banking. Pan replaces Guo Shuqing (郭樹清), who retired as party chief. Central bank Governor Yi Gang (易綱), who was Guo’s deputy, also retired from his party role, the statement said.
ACCOUNTING
PwC kicks out top partners
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) yesterday said that a raft of Australian senior partners would be forced to leave the company, as it battles to contain the fallout from a damaging tax leak scandal. The company, part of the Big Four accounting firms, named eight partners who had “enabled poor behaviors to persist with no accountability” — including former PwC Australian CEO Tom Seymour. “They are now being held accountable for their misconduct,” interim CEO Kristin Stubbins said. A total of 12 PwC partners have left the company since the leak came to light.
PROJECT PLANNING
Facilitate Corp sues Twitter
Australian project management firm Facilitate Corp has filed a lawsuit against Twitter Inc in a US court seeking cumulative payments of about A$1 million (US$665,940) over alleged non-payment of bills for work done in four countries, court filings showed. The Sydney-based private company on Thursday filed the suit in the US District Court for the Northern District Of California alleging breach of contract over Twitter’s failure to pay its invoices. Facilitate said it was seeking compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, legal costs and interest at the maximum legal rate.
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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