International News

  Bloomberg China is pausing massive investments aimed at building a chip industry to compete with the US, as a nationwide Covid resurgence strains the world’s No. 2 economy and Beijing’s finances. Top officials are discussing ways to move away from costly subsidies that have so far borne little fruit and encouraged both graft and American sanctions, people familiar with ...

Bloomberg Activity in India’s dominant services sector grew at its fastest pace in six months in December, buoyed by fresh business orders and signaling optimism about Asia’s third-largest economy. The S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers Index rose to 58.5 last month from 56.4 in November 2022, data showed. Helped by a strong performance in the manufacturing sector, the composite ...

  Bloomberg Despite being the birthplace of the humble rice cooker, a decline in appetites for the grain and cost savings to be found elsewhere are prompting Panasonic Holdings Corp to end production in Japan. Instead, the Osaka-based manufacturer will transfer production to the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou by June 2023, according to media reports. The move by Panasonic, ...

  Bloomberg Byju Raveendran, the founder of the world’s most valuable edtech startup Byju’s, is in financing talks to lift his stake in the company to as high as 40%, people familiar with the matter said. The former teacher is seeking funding to finance the stake repurchases — which could amount to as much as 15% of the firm — ...

  Bloomberg An Indian appeals court refused to grant immediate relief to Alphabet Inc’s Google over a $162 million antitrust fine for abusing the dominant position of its Android smartphone operating system in the country. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal asked the US tech giant to deposit 10% of the penalty after admitting its appeal against the Competition Commission ...

  Bloomberg Chinese bureaucrats are discussing plans to resume some imports of Australian coal after a more than two-year ban as relations between the nations improve. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) held talks on proposals to allow four major importers — China Baowu Steel Group Corp, China Datang Corp, China Huaneng Group Co and China Energy Investment Corp ...

  Bloomberg Asia’s manufacturers remained under pressure in December as activity continued to contract under the weight of slowing global demand. Several purchasing managers indexes were in negative territory across the region. The S&P Global PMI reading for Vietnam fell to 46.4 from 47.4 in November, its lowest reading since September 2021. A reading above 50 indicates expansion from the ...

  Bloomberg Malaysia expects “some kind of finality” in its review of the 5G mobile services contract by this quarter, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, amid fears that it would delay the rollout of the high-speed network. The government’s concerns with the 5G services range from the contracts signed to the speed that the network is being deployed, Fahmi said ...

  Bloomberg Singapore’s recovery held up in 2022, with a relatively strong year-end performance shoring up the economy ahead of an expected global slowdown this year. Gross domestic product grew 3.8% during the year, according to advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. That’s a slight beat from the government’s projection for a 3.5% annual expansion. The better-than-forecast ...

  Bloomberg Hyundai Motor Co sold 3.94 million vehicles last year, short of its 4.01 million target as the pandemic, supply disruptions, inflation and concerns of recession continued to strain the industry. Hyundai, which already cut its 2022 forecast from 4.32 million vehicles in October, expects global sales to reach 4.32 million units in 2023 — 3.54 million overseas and ...