18/07/2025

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | JULY 18, 2025

16

TSMC posts 60% jump in second quarter profit

China moves to tame ‘irrational competition’ as EV price war rages BEIJING: Chinese officials are seeking to tame the country’s swelling electric vehicle industry with policies to prevent “irrational competition”, state media said, as a brutal price war ensnares top automakers. Beijing has poured vast state funds into the EV sector, supporting the development and production of less polluting battery-powered vehicles. But a price war has left many startups bust as firms flood the domestic market with low-cost cars and trade-in schemes, offering huge discounts to customers to give up their old auto for a new one. Domestic criticism has mounted in recent months against intra-industry “involution” – a popular tag used to describe the race to outcompete that ends up nowhere. A meeting of top officials in Beijing – chaired by Premier Li Qiang – called on Wednesday for tighter price monitoring and improving long-term regulation of competition in the sector, state news agency Xinhua said. Officials called for stronger order in the new energy vehicle market to“curb irrational competition” and spur more healthy development, Xinhua said. Analyst Bill Bishop wrote in his Sinocism newsletter that the wording of Wednesday’s readout could suggest Beijing will place “price controls” on electric vehicles. “The language on the new energy vehicle industry was tough, in another sign that the government is going to intervene to rectify the ‘irrational competition’ in the industry.” – AFP salmon farming TOKYO: Japanese trading house Mitsubishi said yesterday it would expand its salmon farming by acquiring additional businesses in Norway and Canada, as Japanese companies continue to grow in the food sector, with a focus on protein. Faced with volatile fossil fuel markets and in search of stable revenue streams, Mitsubishi and its rivals have been diversifying into the food business, where demand is set to grow alongside a rising world population. “In recent years, securing food resources has become a critical global challenge driven by population growth,”Mitsubishi said in a statement. The acquisition of three companies from Norwegian Grieg Seafood ASA was made via Cermaq Group, Mitsubishi’s salmon farming company with assets in Norway, Canada and Chile. It will boost salmon production to around 280,000 tons in the 2027 fiscal year, up from some 200,000 tons produced by Cermaq annually now. The acquisition price is 10.2 billion Norwegian crowns (RM4.2 billion), Cermaq said in a separate statement. Salmon is among the most popular sushi items in Japan, but the bulk of it is imported from other countries, including Norway and Chile. – Reuters Mitsubishi to expand

was expected to remain “robust”, TSMC chairman and chief executive CC Wei told a briefing yesterday. Nvidia said this week it will resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China after Washington pledged to remove licensing restrictions that had halted exports. Wei welcomed Nvidia’s “good news”. “China is a big market and my customer can still continue to supply the chip to the big market and it’s very positive news for them, and in return it’s very positive news for TSMC,” Wei said. The quarterly results follow US President Donald Trump’s latest

barrage of tariffs and renewed threats to impose levies on pharmaceutical products and chips. Wei said last month that the company “may be affected” if the tolls force up prices and demand for chips falls, but he added: “Our business will still be very good.” Taiwan has been locked in negotiations with Washington over Trump’s threat to impose a 32% tariff on the island’s exports if they do not strike a deal by Aug 1. To help its case, Taipei has pledged to increase investment in the United States, buy more US energy and increase its own defence spending. – AFP

o Demand for artificial intelligence chips expected to remain robust, says CEO

TAIPEI: Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC reported yesterday a forecast-beating 60% rise in net profit for the second quarter on sustained demand for artificial intelligence technology. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world’s largest contract maker of chips and counts Nvidia and Apple among its clients. The firm said its net profit for the

three months to June soared 60.7% from a year ago to NT$398.3 billion (RM57 billion). That beat expectations of NT$376.97 billion, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Second-quarter revenue was up 39% on-year, also topping forecasts. Chips are essential for generative AI, which has exploded in recent years and transformed the global economy, and demand for them

A woman walking past a 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo. – AFPPIC

Couche-Tard drops bid for 7-Eleven Japan owner

MONTREAL: Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) said on Wednesday it has withdrawn its US$47 billion offer for the owner of 7-Eleven, ending a months-long saga to acquire the Japanese giant. ACT made an offer last year of nearly US$40 billion to create the world’s biggest convenience store chain and then sweetened the bid to US$47 billion after the Japanese firm rebuffed the approach. The two companies signed a non-disclosure agreement in April in a bid to advance talks. But ACT released a letter sent to the board of Seven & i which accused

containing a number of wrong statements on which we disagree,” the Japanese firm said. “Our company has been pursuing all options including ACT’s proposal and our company’s own policy of creating value ... Our company will continue policies to create value on our own including our convenience store business in North America.” ACT CEO Alex Miller has described the bid as aimed at creating a “global champion of convenience stores”. Seven & i said in September after ACT’s initial approach that its rival had “grossly” undervalued its business. – AFP

representatives, including in the July 11, 2025 earnings call”. Seven & i operates some 85,000 convenience stores worldwide. Around a quarter of those outlets are in Japan, where they sell everything from concert tickets to pet food and fresh rice balls. ACT, which began with one store in Quebec in 1980, runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide, including Circle K. Seven & i’s shares fell more than 9% in Tokyo yesterday. “ACT’s decision is not what our company had hoped for, and we regard ACT’s news release as

it of “a calculated campaign of obfuscation and delay”. “Based on this persistent lack of good faith engagement, we are withdrawing our proposal,” it said. To fend off the ACT buyout, Seven & i has taken measures including a huge share buyback, an IPO of its US unit and appointing its first foreign CEO. ACT’s letter said that“since entering into the NDA, there has been no sincere or constructive engagement from 7&i that would facilitate the advancement of any proposal”. It said that ran “contrary to comments made publicly by 7&i