05/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 5, 2026

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Samsung Biologics estimates 150 billion won strike loss SEOUL: Samsung Biologics estimated yesterday that a strike by its union over pay has cost the contract drug manufacturer about 150 billion won (RM403 million) so far, marking the latest labour unrest to hit the South Korean conglomerate. The estimate reflected the financial impact from a “partial disruption to overall line production“, the company said in an e-mail sent to Reuters. Samsung Biologics added that “the precise financial impact cannot be quantified at this time, as the company is continuously applying all applicable measures to minimise impact”. About half of the company’s workforce of 2,861 employees have been on strike since April 28, according to the union’s website. The dispute could slow the drug company’s efforts to win new orders and disrupt a review into whether to build a sixth plant, according to a note by Shinyoung Securities. Management offered a 6.2% pay rise, according to the company. The union has demanded a 9.3% increase in base salary, a bonus equivalent to 20% of operating profit, as well as other cash or cash-equivalent benefits. In response to the company’s estimate on the potential cost of the labour action, the union said management should make more effort to reach a deal rather than asking workers to stop striking. The union also said the company was struggling with slower orders due to staff shortages and excessive cost reduction that hurt its competitiveness. Both sides will resume talks this week, the union said. Clients, attracted by Samsung Biologics’ on-time, low-cost delivery, could turn to rivals in Europe and the United States, the note said. Samsung Biologics’ clients include Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis, according to a filing in March. The firm’s five plants have about 784,000 litres of capacity in total to produce biologics such as antibody drugs. The strike follows a broader threat of labour unrest at parent Samsung Group, with unions at Samsung Electronics threatening industrial action to secure a bonus increase. Unions at the chip giant have said they plan to strike for 18 days from May 21. That could delay shipments to customers, push up semiconductor prices further and benefit rivals. – Reuters

Robot-hand maker Linkerbot targets US$6b valuation

BEIJING: Chinese robotics startup Linkerbot, the global market leader in highly dexterous robotic hands for humanoids, will seek a US$6 billion (RM23.7 billion) valuation in its next financing round, double the valuation in a just-closed funding, the company said. The Beijing-based company completed what it called a “series B+” funding round last week that valued it at US$3 billion. It did not say when the next funding round will be launched or whether it was targeting the previously undisclosed US$6 billion valuation in a private investment round or in an initial public offering. Prominent early backers of the two-year-old unicorn include Alibaba’s Ant Group and Sequoia spin-off HongShan Group, while the state-backed Zhongguancun Science Park Fund, Bank of China Asset Management and Fosun Capital participated in the latest round, the company said in a statement. Linkerbot currently holds over 80% of the global market share in high-degree-of-freedom (DoF)

and freight, leaving Indian wheat at least US$20 a tonne more expensive in global markets. Only buyers with immediate supply gaps are likely to turn to Indian wheat, while those with adequate inventories of Australian, Argentine or Black Sea supplies will find it less attractive given its relatively higher prices, the sources said. Importers with urgent, short-term requirements and seeking shipments within 30-45 days are the most likely to buy Indian wheat, they said. – Reuters Inspired by his childhood fondness for Doraemon, the Japanese cartoon robotic cat who holds an infinite array of gadgets in his pocket, Zhou envisions his robots playing the piano, giving massages or even doing dentistry: skills he says are a “value-add that is at least triple that of basic labour”. Linkerbot’s hands can already rapidly turn screws, grasp deformable soft objects, thread a needle and engage in high-precision manufacturing. The company supplies some of China’s leading humanoid robot makers as well as some foreign industrial giants, which the company declined to disclose due to NDAs. Its basic O6 light-weight model can carry a 50kg load despite weighing only 370gm, performance Zhou said was a key advantage for industrial applications where miniaturisation and strength are required. Zhou said the company manufactures key components like joint modules, motors and reducers in-house, and uses specialised polymers that are self-lubricating and corrosion-resistant. Besides industrial settings, Linkerbot’s hands are used by research institutes and leading global universities. The company has over 400 employees and five factories in Beijing and Shenzhen, and is developing intelligent production lines where robotic hands manufacture other hands. A major obstacle to the widespread factory use of humanoids is their cost, at US$100,000 to US$150,000 per unit for the leading industrial models from Unitree, AgiBot and UBTech, analysts say. But Linkerbot says its hands are more easily deployed. “Chinese factory owners are extremely pragmatic. They’ve realised that for most factory work, two arms and a pair of dexterous hands are enough,” said Zhou. “Currently, many of our customers simply mount our hands onto existing robotic arms rather than buying a full humanoid,” he said. – Reuters

o Manual dexterity key to widespread humanoid deployment in factories and homes

library of human dexterous skills within our hardware,” Zhou said, referring to the firm’s LinkerSkillNet platform, which he claims is the world’s largest real-world dexterous manipulation dataset. The platform is a multimodal data collection system that converts human skills into standardised, reusable capabilities for robotic hands, containing over 500 skills so far. “The hand is the most complex part of the whole humanoid robot. Elon Musk described on several occasions that the part was taking more than half of their whole engineering effort for Tesla’s Optimus,” said Georg Stieler, head of robotics and automation at technology consultancy Stieler. Musk promised that the latest Optimus model, to be launched this spring, will have “the manual dexterity of a human”.

robotic hands, and plans to scale production “soon” to 10,000 units a month from almost 5,000 currently, CEO Alex Zhou told Reuters in an interview. Investor interest in China’s humanoid robotics industry has surged this year after market leaders such as Unitree demonstrated their products’ staggering technical advances during a widely watched TV performance and the Beijing humanoid robot half-marathon last month. Unitree filed for a Shanghai IPO in March, seeking a valuation of up to US$7 billion. Unlike competing humanoid makers such as X Square Robot that focus on training robotic hands for household chores, Linkerbot specialises in high-value human craftsmanship. “We aren’t just making hands. Our goal is to replicate the entire

A man demonstrates telemanipulation capabilities of a robotic hand using a glove at the office of Linkerbot in Beijing. – REUTERSPIC

India resumes wheat exports after four years MUMBA: Indian traders have begun exporting wheat for the first time in four years, as ample stocks, higher global prices and firmer freight rates have opened a window for them to make small shipments to buyers in Asia and the Middle East, trade sources said. to a Reuters request for comment. India, the world’s largest wheat producer after China, has allowed exports of the grain this year, lifting a ban on overseas sales imposed in 2022. New Delhi extended curbs in 2023 and 2024 after extreme heat the government rebuild depleted reserves and giving it the confidence to allow exports. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government allowed traders to export 2.5 million tons of wheat, before permitting another 2.5 million tons late last month for shipments.

turned to India, the trade sources said. The deal to export 22,000 tons of wheat to the United Arab Emirates was signed at around US$275 per ton free on board, sources said. Despite the first export deal in four years, India is unlikely to see a surge in wheat exports, as domestic prices have risen in recent days because of crop damage, making Indian wheat more expensive than rival supplies from Australia or the Black Sea region. Australian and Black Sea supplies are priced at around US$290-US$300 per tonne, including cost, insurance

shrivelled crops and depleted stocks, pushing domestic prices to record highs and fuelling speculation it might need to import wheat for the first time since 2017. Last year’s favourable weather led to a robust harvest, quashing speculation about imports, helping

Consumer goods conglomerate ITC has started loading 22,000 metric tons of wheat at the western port of Kandla for shipment to the United Arab Emirates, sources said, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media. ITC did not immediately respond

Despite the permission to export, lower global prices and higher Indian rates dissuaded traders from signing export deals. But the Iran conflict has pushed up freight costs and some buyers who need immediate shipments have