GlobalFoundries chip manufacturing facility. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
FRANKFURT (AFP) – United States (US) chip giant GlobalFoundries wants EUR4 billion (USD4.2 billion) in subsidies from Berlin for a massive expansion of a German plant after rivals received government support, a report said on Thursday.
Germany is racing to boost semiconductor production, part of a European drive to reduce reliance on chips from Asia, and manufacturers have announced a series of new projects there in recent months.
TSMC and Intel from the United States both received hefty government subsidies for their projects – and now GlobalFoundries is seeking the same.
It wants to invest EUR8 billion to double the capacity of its plant in the eastern German city of Dresden, CEO Thomas Caulfield told German business daily Handelsblatt.
But it is seeking the same level of government support afforded to TSMC, which is reportedly having around half the cost of a EUR10-billion factory covered by Berlin.
GlobalFoundries chip manufacturing facility. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
“We are confident that the government does not want to distort the market,” Caulfield told the newspaper, adding that if a profitable company like TSMC is subsidised, then the same must be possible for competitors.
A spokeswoman confirmed to AFP the company planned to expand its Dresden site “when market conditions are favourable”.
The report said talks were underway with the German government, although they were not far advanced.
GlobalFoundries has previously spoken out about the impact of subsidies handed to TSMC in Germany.
ABOVE & BELOW: Rudy Gobert; and Karl-Anthony Towns. PHOTO: AP & XINHUA
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The audacious experiment of pairing two big men together turned into a false start for the Minnesota Timberwolves last season when Karl-Anthony Towns (KAT) missed 52 games because of a strained calf muscle during Rudy Gobert’s debut with the team.
“I think it’s always a work in progress,” Gobert said. “You can’t get enough.”
The assessment was finally revived when Towns returned for the playoffs. Now the Timberwolves are banking on Gobert being more comfortable in his second year and Towns staying healthy, bringing back the same starting lineup and almost the entire rotation for another try after losing in the first round to eventual NBA champion Denver.
“Me and Rudy needed more time,” Towns said. “Obviously my injury didn’t help, so it will be good to be out there with him and be healthy doing it and just get right to it.”
Gobert’s integration was far from smooth with the burden of the high price Minnesota paid in the trade with Utah – the equivalent of five first-round picks, including 2022 draftee Walker Kessler – hovering over his every move.
ABOVE & BELOW: Rudy Gobert; and Karl-Anthony Towns. PHOTO: AP & XINHUAPHOTO: AP & XINHUA
Gobert’s shooting percentage on two-pointers was his lowest in five years, his rebounding average his lowest in four. He averaged fewer than two blocks per game for the first time since he was a rookie in 2013-14.
The chemistry on the court was often clunky on both ends as the Timberwolves tried to adjust to his rim-protection strength on defence and his pick-and-roll game on offence.
Then he lost his cool in the tense final regular season game, taking a swing at teammate Kyle Anderson that got him sent home at half-time and suspended for their first play-in game.
There were signs of promise during the first-round series against the Nuggets, as coach Chris Finch tried to play him both with Towns and without.
President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly, at his preseason news conference at Target Center yesterday, said he expected the pairing to be initially clunky and credited Finch for his deft touch.
“He was dealt a tough hand to try to make that work,” Connelly said.
Gobert played for France’s national team at the World Cup. He said he felt the “best I’ve ever felt” at the end of June during the training process. Now he’s eager for restart with Minnesota.
“I think we’ve grown a lot individually and collectively, and now I feel really excited being back here with this group,” Gobert said. “I can feel their energy. I can feel that it’s going to be a good year for us.”
When training camp starts today, the Gobert-Towns pairing will again be high on the to-do list for Finch and the staff. Refining their connection with star guard Anthony Edwards is probably above that.
“We’ll do a lot of work with those guys together – player-development, small group work for sure,” Finch said. “I think through the season last year, Ant and Rudy had a better understanding. It’s not the finished product by any stretch of the imagination, but you felt it getting better and better. I think the key for us is to recapture the chemistry that Ant and KAT have always had.”
Edwards flourished during the World Cup with the United States team and enters his fourth season with a maximum contract extension in hand – and even higher expectations. He shrugged that off yesterday, calling forward Jaden McDaniels the most important player on the team for his potential and trying to turn the spotlight on ninth-year veteran Towns.
“Big KAT’s a superstar, man. He’s going to be like one of the best players in the league this year,” Edwards said. “He’s going to take a lot of pressure off me, so, yeah, I’m putting a lot of pressure on him.”
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Eight-time NBA All-Star guard Kyrie Irving said on Thursday it was a relatively easy decision to re-sign with the Dallas Mavericks after briefly exploring free agency.
Irving, speaking to reporters for the first time since the final week of last season, said Dallas just felt like a good fit, despite the fact that he and teammate Luka Doncic didn’t immediately gel when he arrived via a mid-season trade from Brooklyn in February.
A free agent at the end of last season, he inked a three-year, USD126 million deal with the Mavs in June.
“Had Dallas as number one on my list,” Irving said. “Obviously I looked elsewhere – salary cap opportunities, where I could fit in with other guys around the league – but there just wasn’t much space.
“And me being 31 now, I had to have a different vantage point, and I felt like I could not just settle here but be happy to come back here and be welcomed back with a warm embrace.”
Kyrie Irving. PHOTO: AP
Irving said his family backed the move, believing it would give him “peace of mind on the court and off the court”.
“I had already dealt with enough (the) past season or the past two seasons, so they knew that I just wanted a lot of that off my back and off my shoulders of feeling like I had to be Superman or I had to be perfect,” he said. “I just wanted to be myself.”
Irving, who won an NBA title with Cleveland in 2016, arrived in Dallas after four seasons in Brooklyn, where he missed dozens of games after refusing to be vaccinated for Covid-19 and was last season suspended after a controversial social media.
In 20 games with the Mavs last season, Irving averaged 27 points, five rebounds and six assists while shooting 51 per cent from the floor.
However, he and Slovenian star Doncic never emerged as a tight tandem threat. They both battled injuries as the Mavs faded late, the team going 5-11 in games in which they were in the lineup together.
Irving said he thought he and Doncic were “too passive” when playing together. Doncic said on Wednesday he thought a full training camp and pre-season together would improve their chemistry.
“It takes time to build chemistry, especially on the court,” Doncic said. “We’ll have the whole training camp and pre-season, so I think it’s going to be way better.”
Motorcyclists riding past residential buildings under construction in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. PHOTO: AFP
HANOI (AFP) – Vietnam’s economy grew 5.3 per cent on-year in the third quarter, official data showed yesterday, though experts warned it was on course to miss an ambitious year end target.
Loan interest rate reductions, an extension of tax payments and increased public investment had a positive impact, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said.
But analysts warn it will be an uphill battle for the clothing, shoes and electronics manufacturing hub to reach a year-end target of 6.5 per cent expansion for 2023.
“Vietnam would only reach a year-end economic growth of between 4.5 per cent and 4.7 per cent, much lower than the government’s set target,” Rong Viet Stocks Company chief economist Tran Thi Ha My told AFP.
“Growth for the fourth quarter is expected to be at around six per cent… largely thanks to improved industrial production and exports.”
According to GSO, a slump in demand hit the country’s exports.
Motorcyclists riding past residential buildings under construction in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. PHOTO: AFP
One of Vietnam’s largest shoemakers for brands such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok announced in August it would cut jobs for the third time this year.
Vietnam earned nearly USD260 billion in the first nine months from exports.
The communist state has long been a success story among Asian economies and in 2022, its economy grew eight per cent.
The Asian Development Bank predicts 5.8 per cent growth for Vietnam’s year-end figure, “mainly due to weak external demand”.
“Weak external environment, including from a subdued recovery in China, has hampered export-led manufacturing, thus shrinking industrial production in Vietnam,” the bank’s Vietnam country director Shantanu Chakraborty said this week.
“The economy remains resilient, and recovery is expected to pick up in the near term, driven by strong domestic consumption, which is supported by moderate inflation, an acceleration of public investment and improved trade activities.”
The GSO reported that 776,000 more labourers in Vietnam have found jobs since the beginning of the year, compared with the same period last year.
Average monthly income was around USD288, nearly seven per cent higher, GSO said.
Bank Negara Malaysia headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PHOTO: THE STAR
ANN/THE STAR – Malaysia’s international reserves amounted to USD112.46 billion at the end of August, while other foreign currency assets stood at USD1.70 million, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
The central bank said in accordance with the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) format, the detailed breakdown of international reserves provides forward-looking information on the size, composition, and usability of reserves and other foreign currency assets.
It also provides guidance on the federal government and BNM’s expected and potential future inflows and outflows of foreign exchange, it said in a statement yesterday.
“Over the next 12 months, the pre-determined short-term outflows of foreign currency loans, securities, and deposits, which include, among others, scheduled repayment of external borrowings by the government and the maturity of foreign currency Bank Negara interbank bills, will amount to USD17.56 billion.
“The net short forward positions amounted to USD22.89 billion at end-August, which reflected the management of ringgit liquidity in the money market,” it said.
BNM said in line with the practice adopted since April 2006, the data excludes projected foreign currency inflows which arise from interest income and the drawdown of project loans.
The projected foreign currency inflows will amount to USD2.23 billion over the next 12 months, it said, adding that government guarantees of foreign currency debt due within one year amounting to USD369.5 million is the only contingent short-term net drain on foreign currency assets.
“There are no foreign currency loans with embedded options and no undrawn, unconditional credit lines provided by or to other central banks, international organisations, banks, and other financial institutions. BNM also does not engage in foreign currency options vis-à-vis the ringgit,” it said.
Bank Negara Malaysia headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PHOTO: THE STAR
BEIJING (AFP) – World number three Daniil Medvedev cruised into the second round of the China Open with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tommy Paul yesterday.
The Russian broke serve decisively in the fourth game and secured the opening set when Paul lofted a forehand long.
Medvedev then peppered the American with a barrage of powerful serves and forehands to close out the match with ease.
He will play Alex De Minaur in the second round after the Australian edged out Britain’s Andy Murray in a third-set tie-break on Thursday.
“During the match, I played better and better,” Medvedev said at a post-match press conference.
“I managed to serve better, to find better angles, some good returns, some good depth on my shots,” the US Open runner-up said.
“It’s never easy after a Grand Slam final to come back and play a big tournament, so (I’m) happy with it.”
World number four Holger Rune downed Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 yesterday to set up a second-round tie with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
And seventh-ranked Jannik Sinner fought out a 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3 win over Britain’s Daniel Evans to secure a meeting with either Shang Juncheng or Yoshihito Nishioka.
This year’s China Open is the first since 2019 after Beijing ditched its isolationist zero-Covid policy.
All of the eight top-ranked men are in action except world number one Novak Djokovic.
TOKYO (AFP) – Four-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek crashed out of the quarter-finals at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo yesterday, beaten by Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.
Kudermetova, ranked 19th, moves to the semi-finals after serving four aces and beating the world number two 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
“My service worked really well today,” the 26-year-old said after the match.
“In the last game, I tried to focus that I need to play point, I don’t need to hit the ace and I just need to put the serve in and try to play a rally.” Kudermetova will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 86th today.
“It’ll be an interesting and a very tough match,” Kudermetova said.
“I played worse,” said Swiatek, who lost her number-one ranking at the US Open.
“I know the mistakes I made… I know exactly how I should play differently so I’m not going to make these mistakes again,” she said.
A container ship is moored at the Port of Los Angeles, United States. PHOTO: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States (US) economy grew at a 2.1-per-cent annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said on Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.
The second-quarter expansion of the nation’s gross domestic product – its total output of goods and services – marked a modest deceleration from the economy’s 2.2-per-cent annual growth from January through March.
Consumer spending, business investment and state and local government outlays drove the second-quarter economic expansion.
The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March 2022, sparking concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession.
So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, raising hopes that the central bank can pull off a so-called soft landing – slowing the economy enough to conquer high inflation without causing a painful recession.
Still, those higher rates have taken a toll. Consumer spending, for example, rose at an annual rate of just 0.8 per cent from April through June, down sharply from the government’s previous estimate of 1.7 per cent and the weakest such figure since the first quarter of 2022.
But business investment excluding housing, a closely watched barometer, rose at a 7.4-per cent annual pace, the fastest rate in more than a year. And state and local government spending and investment jumped 4.7 per cent, the biggest such quarterly gain since 2019.
Thursday’s report was the government’s third and final estimate of economic expansion in the April-June quarter.
Growth is believed to be accelerating in the current July-September quarter, fuelled in part by many still-free-spending consumers.
A container ship is moored at the Port of Los Angeles, United States. PHOTO: AP
CNA – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it sees some signs of stabilisation in China’s economy from recent data, but believes the country can accelerate growth over the medium term if it takes steps to reform its economy to rebalance from investment toward consumer spending.
Chief spokesperson Julie Kozack told a regular news briefing that the IMF still believes China can achieve around five per cent growth this year, with detailed projections due when the IMF publishes its World Economic Outlook during IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco on October 10. The Fund sees China’s gross domestic product growth slowing to about 3.5 per cent over the medium term, but this can be accelerated with economic reforms, she added.
The IMF view is roughly in line with private forecasters as China’s recovery from COVID-19 lockdowns falters and a massive downturn in its property sector weighs on consumer demand. There is also a debt overhang from a decades-long infrastructure binge and depressed private firms have been reluctant to invest. Some analysts see growing risk that China will drift into an era of Japan-like stagnation with an ageing population and slowing productivity growth.
China’s slowdown has some government advisers in Beijing calling for deeper reforms, while others are advocating more robust state spending to bolster growth Kozack said that after a major slowdown since the first quarter of 2023, “very recent data has been a bit more mixed with some signs of stabilisation”.
“We expect that China’s growth will slow to around 3.5 per cent against the backdrop of demographic headwinds and slowing productivity growth,” Kozack said.
“But we also think that higher growth over the medium term is within reach for China. China should seize the opportunity to rebalance its economy through short-term macroeconomic policy support and medium term reforms,” he added.
Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo during a news conference. PHOTO: AP
LAS VEGAS (AP) – It didn’t take long for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to consider Las Vegas his second home.
He came here to fight Jose Cotto on May 10, 2010, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and right away Alvarez felt the support from his Mexican compatriots.
Alvarez won that fight by technical knockout in the second round, the first of many trips to Las Vegas. He is back again, this time as the unified super middleweight champion preparing to face junior middleweight champ Jermell Charlo tomorrow at T-Mobile Arena.
This will be Alvarez’s 17th fight in Las Vegas.
“I think it’s the capital of boxing,” Alvarez said of Las Vegas. “I just feel like coming home because a lot of Mexicans go there and support me. So that’s why I like fighting in Vegas, and there’s a lot of history there.”
The 33-year-old Alvarez has been a big part of that history, whether it’s beating Gennadiy Golovkin twice with another fight ending in a split draw, or defeating Shane Mosley, Daniel Jacobs or Sergey Kovalev. His favourite memory is of the one-sided unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto in November 2015.
Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo during a news conference. PHOTO: AP
“He’s a great champion,” Alvarez said in the ring after that fight, “but now it’s my era”.
Alvarez (59-2-2) has the chance to add to his legacy when he faces the 33-year-old Charlo, who is moving up two weight classes for this fight.
Even though Charlo (35-1-1) is the one moving up, he is four inches taller than the five-foot-eight Alvarez and has a two and half-inch reach advantage. Alvarez said his experience will help him counter the size deficiency.
“I’ve been in the ring with a lot of styles, all kind of fighters,” Alvarez said. “My whole career, I’ve been fighting with (boxers) taller than me, so I know how.”
Charlo, who lives in Houston, already is talking about a rematch, which likely would come if he beats Alvarez. “I don’t think Canelo has faced a fighter of my calibre,” Charlo said. “He’s been in there with great fighters, but there’s something I bring to the table that’s a lot different than anyone he’s seen. I defy the science of boxing.
“I’m one of the guys from the younger era and I’ve been fighting my whole life. What I’ve been through in life, a lot of people can’t compare to that. I deserve to be in my position and now I get to prove my worthiness.”
If Alvarez prevails, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has declared David Benavidez will be his mandatory challenger for the super middleweight belt.
But Alvarez has not committed to facing Benavidez, a 26-year-old who is 27-0 with all but four by knockout. If Alvarez beats Charlo and turns down Benavidez, the WBC likely would vacate his championship.
“I’m going to win (versus Charlo), but I don’t know what is next,” Alvarez said. “I’m going to sit down with my team and talk about it because I’m 100 per cent focused on this fight.”
