Posts by Mark Darwin
Microchip Technology says certain operations disrupted by cyber incident
MICROCHIP Technology said on Tuesday (Aug 20) that an “unauthorised party” disrupted the company’s use of certain servers and some business operations, marking the latest security incident at a US chipmaker this year. After detecting “potentially suspicious activity” in its IT systems on Saturday, Microchip began taking steps to assess and contain the issue, it…
Read MoreSolar panel imports to US hit record high before Biden’s tariff waiver ended
SOLAR panel imports to the US from South-east Asia surged to an all-time high in the second quarter as manufacturers raced to lock in supply before expanded tariffs took effect in June. Imports climbed to 17.4 gigawatts, led by shipments from Vietnam and Thailand, according to a report on Tuesday (Aug 20) from S&P Global…
Read MoreUS dollar hits 7-month low before Powell, Swedish krona volatile after rate cut
THE US dollar hit a fresh seven-month low on Tuesday (Aug 20) with traders bracing for comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell due on Friday, which could provide clues about the speed of the US monetary easing cycle. Meanwhile, Sweden’s krona fell after swinging up and down in morning trade as the central bank…
Read MoreStarHub broadband service restored after outage on Tuesday
STARHUB broadband customers experienced an outage which disrupted their access to the Internet just before 8 pm on Tuesday (Aug 20), but the telco announced at 9.15 pm that it expected its broadband and TV+ services to be back online progressively after it successfully “rerouted traffic”. It recommended that customers reboot their routers if they…
Read MoreTSMC breaks ground on 10 billion euros German plant in chip war salvo
TAIWAN Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) broke ground in eastern Germany on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. “We are dependant on semiconductors for our sustainable future technologies, but we must not be dependant on other regions of the world for the supply of semiconductors,”…
Read MoreMarket bullish ahead of inflation data, Powell’s speech; STI up 0.4% on Tuesday
SINGAPORE stocks extended rally on Tuesday (Aug 20) as investors await eagerly the Republic’s July inflation data and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s keynote speech. The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.4 per cent or 14.75 points to 3,370.31. Across the broader market, gainers beat losers 313 to 231 after 904.2 million securities worth S$969…
Read MoreHSBC said to explore sale of South Africa units to focus on Asia
HSBC Holdings is weighing a sale of its South African businesses as the lender focuses on Asian markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The South African branch business and securities unit have drawn interest from bidders that include banks from the region as well as China and the United Arab Emirates, said…
Read MoreThe MAS and CAD naughty list
JUST this week, water treatment company Memiontec announced that its husband-and-wife founders were being jointly investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD)…
Read MoreHuawei’s smart car unit valued at 115 billion yuan after investment
CHINESE tech firm Huawei Technologies’ push into the electric vehicle market has received another boost, after an investment valued its auto solutions company at 115 billion yuan (S$21.1 billion). Avatr Technology, an EV brand backed by state-owned carmaker Chongqing Changan Automobile and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), paid 11.5 billion yuan to…
Read MoreChina’s gold imports tumble again as record prices deter buyers
CHINESE consumers continued to pull back on gold purchases last month, as record prices and a sustained economic slowdown curbed demand in the world’s biggest bullion-buying nation. Gold imports in July fell 24 per cent to 44.6 tonnes, the lowest in more than two years, according to customs data released on Tuesday (Aug 20). That…
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