Business News

Manufacturing investment wanted in India

BEIJING — India wants to attract manufacturing investment following its latest market-opening initiatives, the country’s finance minister said Friday, despite business concerns about access to land, taxes and other issues. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened more industries to foreign ownership and streamlined official procedures, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He was in Beijing for the first meeting of the Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Changes announced Monday by Modi’s two-and-a-half-year-old government included allowing complete foreign ownership of airlines and military industries. They also eased investment in pharmaceuticals, food and retailing. “Being a fast-growing economy, I think we are one of the priority options that the world of investors has,” Jaitley said. India is known for software and other tech industries but has lagged neighbouring China in manufacturing. Investors see the country as Asia’s next major growth story as China’s explosive expansion of the past decade cools. Retailers and foreign investors are attracted by India’s economic growth — the highest of any major country last year at 7.4 per cent — but are frustrated by bureaucracy and market barriers. Modi came to power promising to overhaul the economy. “Whichever industries have come to India and invested in India have eventually ended up making India a hub for global manufacturing,” Jaitley said. Industrial investors have long been frustrated by the difficulty of gaining access to land due to requirements that local residents give their approval. Steelmakers Posco and ArcelorMittal have cited land-related delays in scrapping planned projects. The Modi government failed to reform land acquisition laws last year when its legislation stalled in the upper house of India’s Parliament, where Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lacks a majority. The government has told investors it will be left to states to decide how to appropriate land for manufacturing. “I don’t […]

KDDI in Japan Selects Gemalto’s Connected Cars and IoT Solution

Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, has been selected to provide its LinqUs On-Demand Connectivity (ODC) subscription management solution and embedded SIMs (eSIMs) for KDDI, a leading operator in Japan with over 40 million subscribers, to enable secure connectivity for connected cars and IoT applications worldwide. As a result, KDDI can now provision any requested operator’s profile on connected cars equipped with pre-embedded eSIM, allowing automakers and solution providers to offer seamless remote subscription over the air throughout the lifecycle of the car. Motorists can access optimised real-time information about traffic and nearby amenities, navigation, vehicle diagnostics, and emergency services, anytime, anywhere. Gartner forecasts that by 2020, there will be a quarter billion vehicles on the road with some form of wireless connectivity, making connected cars a major element of the Internet of Things. The lack of flexible and interoperable remote subscription management is a major challenge in deploying IoT. Gemalto’s solution, based on global GSMA specifications, will simplify logistics for OEMs and automakers. LinqUs On-Demand Connectivity is integrated to several IoT connectivity platforms, offering utmost flexibility to KDDI. “Gemalto has been our trusted partner for a long time, and has helped us launch many successful projects,” said Keiichi Mori, Executive Officer, General Manager, IoT Business Development Division, Solution Business Sector at KDDI. “Their solution is based on interoperable GSMA standards, and will provide a common and consistent way to connect devices in the future. With long-lasting relationships with over 500 mobile operators worldwide and a strong local presence, they can help us expand our services to other IoT applications, to obtain rapid growth in the connected world.” “IoT is increasingly turning connected cars into powerful hubs for value-added services such as infotainment, real-time vehicle telematics, and usage-based insurance, offering plenty of opportunities to OEMs and service providers,” said […]

Faster Trans-Pacific cable system ready for service

The 9,000 km submarine cable system linking Japan and the West Coast of the U.S. completes construction and is ready for service FASTER, a consortium of six international companies, together with its supplier NEC Corporation, today announced that construction and end-to-end testing of a new trans-Pacific submarine cable system, the “FASTER Cable System,” has been successfully completed and will start service on June 30, 2016. The 9,000km trans-Pacific cable, the FASTER Cable System, lands in Oregon in the United States and two landing points in Japan, namely Chiba and Mie prefectures. The system has extended connections to major hubs on the West Coast of the U.S. covering Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland and Seattle. The two landing points in Japan facilitate the cable’s easy access to major cities in Japan. FASTER’s robust and resilient connectivity to many neighbouring cable systems extends the cable’s capacity beyond Japan to other Asian locations. FASTER is the first trans-Pacific submarine cable system designed from day one to support digital coherent transmission technology, using optimised fibres throughout the submarine portion. The combination of extremely low loss fibre, without a dispersion compensation section, and the latest digital signal processor, which compensates for the huge amount of cumulative dispersion at the end of the cable, enable this six-fiber pair cable to deliver 60 Terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth across the Pacific. “From the very beginning of the project, we repeatedly said to each other, ‘faster, Faster and FASTER,’ and at one point it became the project name, and today it becomes a reality. This is the outcome of six members’ collaborative contribution and expertise together with NEC’s support,” said Hiromitsu Todokoro, Chairman of the FASTER Management Committee. “This was the first trans-Pacific submarine cable built solely by NEC Corporation, employing the latest 100Gbps […]

IoT testbed for the manufacturing industry

TOKYO – Hitachi has announced that along with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Intel K.K. (Japan), it proposed, and received approval for Factory Automation Platform as a Service (FA PaaS) Testbed(1) in the field of next-generation factories at the Industrial Internet Consortium(IIC)(2). The goal of this testbed is to test open IoT platforms that seamlessly integrate Factory Automation (FA) in the front lines of manufacturing and Information Technologies (IT) that support management and operation, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric and Intel. Hitachi will incorporate the results of these tests into the IoT platform “Lumada”, and create new solutions along with customers and partners. In recent years, amid increasingly intense global competition in the manufacturing industry, there has been a growing demand for more rapid product development and market introduction, quality improvements and shorter lead times in order to quickly respond to the rapidly changing market environments and management environments through the introduction of new technologies and collaborations between companies. In this backdrop, there has been a growing expectation for overall optimization that uses data related to manufacturing in the increasingly global supply chain to connect the front lines of manufacturing with management, suppliers, and customers. This in turn has given rise to a need for secure connections between a variety of devices in FA environment and cutting-edge IT services (e.g., Big Data and the cloud) and for the accelerated development of applications in the field of next-generation factories. These platforms include IoT data processing platforms that processes Big Data, IoT head end systems, and IoT gateways that securely connect the service platform layer with FA environment, and FA edge devices that provide functions unique to FA applications, and which also enable communications with FA devices in the field of next-generation factories. In addition, the advantage of IoT platform tested in this […]

Shanghai manufacturing plant for Tesla

Tesla Motors wants to set up in Shanghai as the base for its manufacturing facilities in China. According to Bloomberg, Tesla is rumored to have signed a non-binding agreement with Jinqiao Group, a Shanghai government-owned company, on building production facilities in the city. Both parties would invest $4.5 billion toward the $9 billion project, with Jinqiao Group required to provide Tesla Motors with ample lands to build the factory. If the rumors are true, the investment would be larger than the $5.5 which Disney splashed out to construct its Shanghai theme park. Jinqiao Group says currently no deal has been reached with Tesla. Production in China would help Tesla avoid a 25 percent import levy on imported cars, allowing the company to better compete against such companies as BMW, Audi and other manufacturers occupying the luxury segment of the market.

Southeast Asia Poised to Reap Rewards of Fourth Industrial Revolution

SINGAPORE, May 30, 2016 – Southeast Asian countries have the potential to leapfrog ahead of other developing nations by embracing new technologies to transform how people work, live and play, according to a new report by real estate consultancy JLL. Ahead of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 1 and 2 June, JLL has released a report looking at how advanced digital technologies could impact countries in the newly established ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a trading bloc of 10 Southeast Asian nations. Chris Fossick, Managing Director, Singapore & South East Asia, JLL, says: “In many ways, new technologies will allow people to bypass current constraints and leapfrog into greater efficiency. The impact on real estate and infrastructure in Southeast Asia is likely to be positive and transformational. If harnessed effectively, the changes will bring improved productivity, income levels and quality of life to the population.” Southeast Asian economies are forecast to grow at 5 percent annually until 2020, exceeding global growth of 3.5 percent. The urban population in Southeast Asia’s cities is growing by around 2.2 percent annually and the middle income population is set to increase by 70 million to 194 million by 2020. New ways to work In the sphere of work, demand for office space will change due to greater outsourcing from developed markets, more flexible work practices, and an increase in co-sharing spaces. Regina Lim, National Director, Advisory & Research, Capital Markets, JLL and author of the report, says: “While growth in demand for office space slowed after the global financial crisis, Southeast Asia has bucked the trend, with demand expected to grow at 6 percent per year until 2020 due to economic growth, further acceleration of outsourcing from developed markets, and the rise of the middle class. In […]

Veolia Water Technologies appoints new CEO for Asia Pacific Region

Singapore, 10 May, 2016:- Veolia Water Technologies (Veolia) is pleased to announce the appointment of Frédéric Théry as its new Asia Pacific Chief Executive Officer. Having taken on the new role since January 2016, Frédéric now oversees Veolia’s business in the Asia Pacific region, and guides the company in its transition to a new internal structure. Towards the end of 2015, Veolia strategically reorganized its operational entities according to four geographical regions, in order to facilitate greater cooperation between the company’s various business units. With this restructuring, Veolia aims to improve overall productivity, and to better integrate its water and wastewater expertise across the board. An Engineering graduate from l’Ecole des Mines de Douai in France, Frédéric gained a wide range of experience working in different entities across the Veolia Group over the last 23 years. Frédéric first moved into Veolia Water Technologies in 2003 as Executive Vice President at Veolia Water Technologies North America, leading the Design and Build division out of the USA for four years. Thereafter, Frédéric moved to Europe to oversee the industrial business of Veolia Water Technologies in France until 2012, where he was then appointed Managing Director of the Northern Europe entities. Commenting on the internal restructuring and his new appointment, Frédéric said, “While Veolia is an established name in the water and wastewater industry, we have to ensure we remain attractive and nimble in order to stay competitive. This is especially true of the fast-paced Asian market. “By realigning our business units, we are actively fostering cooperation between divisions to refine our competitive edge. Our water solutions set us apart from other providers, so it is imperative that Veolia transforms itself into a more integrated company to offer these technologies across the five continents that it is active in. I look forward to […]

Semiconductor use in India to grow to USD55 Billion in 2020

PENANG, Malaysia, Apr 8, 2016 – The Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) market is expected to grow from USD31.6 billion in 2015 to USD400 billion by 2020, and consumption of semiconductors is expected to increase to approximately USD55 billion in 2020. Given this backdrop, the electronics supply chain will convene at SEMICON Southeast Asia (SEA) from 26-28 April at the Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre (SPICE) in Penang, Malaysia. SEMICON SEA 2016 will offer a complete platform for engaging customers, suppliers, engineers and decision-makers from across the industry. With the objective to champion regional collaboration, the event will open new business opportunities for customers and foster stronger cross-regional engagement. Against this positive backdrop, many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) have invested in the Indian semiconductor space. The Government of India expects investment proposals in electronics manufacturing to increase two times in the 2017-18 timeframe, giving a push to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. According to Mr Ng Kai Fai, President of SEMI Southeast Asia, “The Indian semiconductor industry offers high-growth opportunities as the industries which source semiconductors are themselves witnessing high demand. With the Internet of Things (IoT) picking up momentum, the next generation of interconnected devices will further increase the demand for intelligent computing, creating sustainable demand for semiconductors.” “SEMI has organized a Technology Innovation Forum focusing on the impact and potential of IoT within the semiconductor sphere at the upcoming SEMICON Southeast Asia 2016. Known as the region’s premier showcase for the entire electronics supply chain, the event will feature industry leaders who will share their views on how IoT is impacting the semiconductor ecosystem. With a sold-out event, the support from global players provides a compelling reason why Vietnamese semiconductor stakeholders should visit SEMICON SEA 2016,” he added. […]

Chin Hin acquires High-tech machinery in expansion plan

New machines will double Starken AAC’s current production capacity. KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 6, 2016 – Chin Hin Group Berhad, a well-known Malaysian integrated building materials specialist, signed a purchasing contract today with a German-based counterpart, Wehrhahn GmbH (“Wehrhahn”), for the purchase of supply machineries to facilitate the Company’s Autoclave Aerated Concrete (“AAC”) production line at its upcoming new factory which is estimated to require an investment of RM85 million. The contract which is valued at EUR4 million (approximately RM18 million) for one (1) machine line was signed at an official ceremony held at Chin Hin’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and witnessed by representatives from both companies. The machine line which is a green technology used for the production of AAC blocks and wall panels, will be installed at Chin Hin’s upcoming factory, which is targeted to be completed in the next 1-2 years. The acquisition of these new assets is in line with the Company’s post-listing business expansion plan, and will allow additional production capacity by 420,000 meter cubes, as well as enabling Chin Hin to expand into overseas markets, especially in the Asia Pacific region. The demand for wall panels is increasing as the Malaysian government in particular is encouraging the use of this material in the Industrialized Building Systems (“IBS”), and will be distributed locally as well as in Singapore. Concurrently, Chin Hin is working on further developing their current manufacturing facility, Starken AAC Sdn. Bhd. (“Starken AAC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chin Hin, and increasing its production capacity to cater to the anticipated growing demand for their own manufactured products. To date, Starken AAC has successfully secured repeated purchase orders for its AAC products from customers in Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia. Group Managing Director of Chin Hin, Chiau Haw Choon expressed, “Going […]

APCAC Business Conference on April 14-15

The American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) will host the 2016 Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (APCAC) Business Conference in Beijing mid-April, with over 300 business, policy, diplomatic, government and media leaders participating in incisive discussion on a wide range of issues affecting American business in Asia. The 2016 APCAC Business Conference will feature distinguished guests and keynote speaker Gary Gensler, former Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and former Assistant Secretary for Treasury. Date: April 14-15, 2016 Place: Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel Visit the event website for more details and to register. APCAC brings together 29 AmChams from around Asia, with a collective membership of over 15,000 companies. It was established in 1968 and holds regular visits to Washington, DC, as well as annual business conferences. The theme of this year’s conference addresses China’s shift toward a new stage of economic development. Discussion topics will cover the wide range of challenges and opportunities that are affecting US business in Asia, the future of Asia as a financial hub, China’s regional engagement, the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and the regional trading environment. As in previous years, this conference will offer the region’s businesspeople a valuable opportunity to gather with peers and government officials. The conference will be a deep-dive into more China-specific issues including leveraging corporate and government relations, China’s economic outlook and the 13th Five-Year Plan. “Asia continues to develop rapidly but unevenly, so bringing together the region’s American Chambers offers an excellent opportunity to share perspectives and experiences,” AmCham China Chairman James Zimmerman said. “At the same time, the US’s relationship with the region is evolving, creating a unique set of opportunities and challenges for US companies operating here that we will address at this conference.” Keynote speaker: Gary Gensler, former Chairperson […]

«‹ 57 58 59 60 ›»

News Ticker

Business News