03/06/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JUNE 3, 2026

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Pay workers ‘as much as possible’, says Huang

SAIC to build first European EV plant in Spain MADRID: Chinese automaker SAIC Motor will build its first electric vehicle factory in Europe in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, regional authorities said on Monday. The plant is expected to begin construction in the port of A Coruna in 2027 and start operation at the end of the following year, with a yearly production target of 120,000 vehicles, said the head of the regional government of Galicia, Alfonso Rueda. The project will involve an initial investment of around €200 million (RM852 million) and is expected to create 2,300 jobs, he told a news conference. Spain is particularly attractive to Chinese investors because its economy is growing at one of the fastest rates in Europe and energy costs remain relatively low due to the country’s bet on renewable power. Bilateral ties have strengthened in recent years, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visiting China four times over in the past three years, The closer times some as relations between Europe and the United States have strained under President Donald Trump. Chinese carmakers have quickly built up their presence in the lucrative European auto market, buoyed by technological advances and EU rules that call for 90% of all cars sold in the bloc to be electric by 2035. SAIC has been selling hybrid and EVs in Europe under the MG brand for several years. In recent weeks, several Chinese car brands have said they plan to manufacture in Europe, a move that would allow them to avoid EU customs duties and reduce transport issues. – AFP Australia says wheat crop set to plunge SYDNEY: Australia’s wheat crop is set to fall by more than a quarter this season, a government report said yesterday, as farmers face dry conditions and a surge in fuel and fertiliser prices fed by conflict in the Middle East. A major world wheat exporter, Australia’s harvest this season is set to plunge by 26 per cent from last year to 26.7 million tonnes, according to the agriculture department’s quarterly assessment. Australian wheat is grown in winter, which has just started in the southern hemisphere, and most of it is exported to Asia and the Middle East. The forecast wheat crop is 23 per cent below the five-year average and eight percent below the 10-year average, the government report said. Farmers were expected to cut the total area planted with wheat by 12 per cent, it said, citing lower profitability compared to other crops and “very dry” conditions in northern regions. Winter crops of all types in Australia have been hit by the disruption to the global supply of liquid fuels and fertilisers, it said. “If the Middle East conflict continues, the cost of inputs is likely to remain elevated for longer which could weigh on production,“ the report warned. – AFP

o Artificial intelligence boom makes millionaires of many Nvidia employees holding stock options TAIPEI: Companies should pay workers “as much as possible”, Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said yesterday ahead of a trip to South Korea, where Samsung Electronics recently averted a strike by making an agreement on bonuses with its union. Huang, head of the US artificial intelligence hardware giant that is the world’s most valuable company, was asked about the Samsung dispute at a news conference in Taipei, where a major tech show is taking place this week. “I’m not an expert in that area,” he said. “I think people should be paid as much as possible. Ask my employees – literally, I do that.” “I pay my employees as much as I can,” he added. “But that’s just what I do. It doesn’t make this right.” The AI boom has driven Nvidia’s stock price up more than 1,170 per cent over the past five years, making many employees holding stock options millionaires practically overnight. Samsung, which makes memory chips essential for AI data centres, has also seen its value and profits soar as global demand skyrockets. That has fuelled frustration among staff, and under the union deal around 60 per cent of Samsung’s domestic workforce is eligible to receive a bonus of roughly US$330,000 this year, based on a market estimate of operating profit. Huang is due to arrive in South Korea on Friday and will reportedly meet with companies including SK Group and Hyundai to discuss robotics and so-called “physical AI”. He will also appear on one of the country’s most popular TV talk shows, You Quiz on the Block , and is expected to feast on Korean barbecue with the leaders of the country’s top tech firms. On Monday, before the start of Taiwan’s Computex expo, Nvidia unveiled a powerful laptop chip for Windows machines, staking its claim in the market for next-generation PCs integrated with AI tech.

Huang introduces the Vera Rubin architecture during a keynote speech on the sidelines of the Computex trade show in Taipei. – REUTERSPIC

giants TSMC and Foxconn, and last week Huang said Nvidia would increase investment there to US$150 billion a year, up from US$100 billion, to “fuel an incredible ecosystem here”. Opening Computex yesterday, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said that rising international investment reflects the island’s “technological strength, industrial efficiency, and the trust built up in our democratic system”. – AFP

The move challenges the likes of Apple, AMD and Intel – whose CEO Lip-Bu Tan is due to speak at Computex – in the consumer PC domain. Huang said yesterday that Nvidia is “supply constrained” although “we have enough supply for very robust growth”, referring to the gamut of materials used to make computer chips, from silicon wafers to advanced memory components. Taiwan is home to hardware production

India slips to seventh in global market cap rankings NEW DELHI: India’s equity markets slipped to seventh place in terms of market capitalisation yesterday as heavy foreign selling, weak earnings growth and limited exposure to AI-linked stocks allowed South Korea’s chip-heavy market to overtake it. India’s Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex have lost 10.1% and 12.5% each this year, while the IT index – the second-heaviest sector on the benchmarks – has tumbled 19%, pressured by a subdued earnings outlook and persistent foreign selling. South Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have surged this year, lifting the Kospi 107% higher while Taiwan SE Weighted index has advanced 59%, boosted by demand for AI-linked stocks.

India, by comparison, has struggled to benefit from the artificial intelligence-driven investment boom. Market returns indicate that the narrative is that“AI is the defining theme and semiconductors are at its centre and within emerging markets, that story belongs to Taiwan and Korea, not India“, said Abhay Laijawala, managing director and India chief investment officer at Lighthouse Canton. However, that view may be overstated as India offers a “picks-and-shovels” opportunity in the artificial intelligence era through investments tied to electricity, cooling systems, physical infrastructure and data centres that underpin the broader AI ecosystem, Laijawala added. – Reuters

Foreign investors have pulled out US$26.4 billion from Indian stocks so far in 2026, surpassing US$18.91 billion in 2025 – the previous annual record. Additionally, India’s share in the MSCI Global Standard index has shrunk to 12.3% from a peak of 21% in September 2024. “It’s really a remarkable decline and a restructure of the whole investment environment for us because of, obviously, the rise of South Korea and Taiwan as well,“ said Naomi Waistell, a fund manager in the emerging equities team at French firm Carmignac, which manages €41 billion (RM189 billion) in assets. The contrast is particularly stark in technology-heavy markets.

South Korean stocks have rallied this year, driven by AI chipmakers, which have lifted the combined value of companies listed on the KOSPI, KOSDAQ and KONEX to US$5.01 trillion, surpassing the US$4.85 trillion value of firms on India’s National Stock Exchange, exchange data showed. India, once a darling among emerging markets, has now fallen two rungs in a fortnight after slipping behind Taiwan last month. “About 18 months ago, India’s equity market cap was roughly 3.5 times South Korea’s and more than twice Taiwan’s. Fast forward just five months into 2026 and that lead has evaporated,“ Bernstein analysts Venugopal Garre and Nikhil Arela said in a note.