Olympus' American CEO vows to bolster stock price after FDA rap
MITSURU OBE
TOKYO -- The new American president and CEO of Olympus on Friday vowed a speedy response to fresh safety issues raised by U.S. regulators, seeking to restore customer confidence and revive a share price that has fallen by nearly half from its 2022 peak.
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Nikkei Asia
15 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Chinese state media says Nvidia H20 chips not safe for China
BEIJING (Reuters) -- Nvidia's H20 chips pose security concerns for China, a social media account affiliated with China's state media said on Sunday, after Beijing raised concerns over backdoor access in those chips. The H20 chips are also not technologically advanced or environmentally friendly, the account, Yuyuan Tantian, which is affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, said in an article published on WeChat. "When a type of chip is neither environmentally friendly, nor advanced, nor safe, as consumers, we certainly have the option not to buy it," the article concluded. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. H20 artificial intelligence chips were developed by Nvidia for the Chinese market after the U.S. imposed export restrictions on advanced AI chips in late 2023. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump banned their sales in April amid escalating trade tensions with China, but reversed the ban in July. China's cyberspace watchdog said on July 31 that it had summoned Nvidia to a meeting, asking the U.S. chipmaker to explain whether its H20 chips had any backdoor security risks - a hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls. Nvidia later said its products had no "backdoors" that would allow remote access or control. In its article, Yuyuan Tantian said Nvidia chips could achieve functions including "remote shutdown" through a hardware "backdoor." Yuyuan Tantian's comment followed criticism against Nvidia by People's Daily, another Chinese state media outlet. In a commentary earlier this month, People's Daily said Nvidia must produce "convincing security proofs" to eliminate Chinese users' worries over security risks in its chips and regain market trust.
Nikkei Asia
16 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
US-China trade truce, Lam-Lee summit, Prabowo speech
Welcome to Your Week in Asia. India and Japan have been roiled by U.S. President Donald Trump's sharp changes on tariffs, but this week attention will be focused on China and its trade truce with the U.S. Businesses and markets will be watching closely to see if it will be extended, or a deal struck. Several countries will celebrate their independence anniversaries this week, with leaders giving speeches to mark the occasions and set out policy priorities for the year ahead. Get the best of our coverage of Asia and much more by following us on X, where our handle is @NikkeiAsia. We are also now on Bluesky, with the handle @ MONDAY Vietnam-South Korea summit Vietnam's top leader To Lam and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will hold a summit followed by a state banquet as part of Lam's four-day state visit to South Korea through Wednesday. Lam will be the first foreign leader hosted by Lee since the South Korean president took office in June, and the visit comes at a time of blossoming bilateral ties. Lee's office said that more than 10,000 South Korean companies have operations in Vietnam, and the country is positioning itself to become the largest source of foreign investment in the Southeast Asian nation. TUESDAY U.S.-China trade truce ends The trade war truce between the world's two largest economies is due to expire, unless U.S. President Donald Trump extends it. The 90-day detente agreed in Geneva in May halted a cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation that had sent tariffs on each other soaring into triple digits. Negotiators met in Stockholm at the end of last month and agreed to seek an extension, but American officials said the final decision rests with Trump. The president has since said the two sides are "very close" to a deal. Data: Singapore revised gross domestic product, India inflation Earnings: Sea Monetary policy: Reserve Bank of Australia WEDNESDAY Earnings: GoTo, Commonwealth Bank Monetary policy: Bank of Thailand THURSDAY Jimmy Lai trial resumes The marathon trial of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai reconvenes for closing arguments. The founder of the pro-democracy news outlet Apple Daily, which was forced to close in 2021, has been held in solitary confinement for nearly 1,700 days under the controversial national security law that China imposed on the city. Western governments and human rights groups have called for his release. CK Hutchison in the spotlight Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison releases its first-half earnings, with investors and observers looking for clues on the fate of its plan to sell dozens of global ports. The group earlier this year agreed to offload the maritime interests, including two ports around the Panama Canal, to a consortium including U.S. asset manager BlackRock. But the arrangement met heavy resistance from Beijing, and the exclusive negotiating period expired last month, when CK Hutchison said it would invite a "major strategic investor" from mainland China to join the buyers. Foxconn results Taiwan's Foxconn reports its full second-quarter earnings. The Apple and Nvidia supplier already disclosed record revenue for the three months through June thanks to booming demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing products. The world's largest contract electronics major faces uncertainties in coming quarters, however, including tariffs, a precarious geopolitical situation and questions over how long the AI investment bonanza will last. Earnings: Olam, Geely, Westpac FRIDAY Prabowo gives State of the Nation Address Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is set to deliver his first State of the Nation Address, in which he will explain the government's priority programs for the coming year. The speech will also include key economic targets, highlighting the administration's fiscal direction under his leadership. The address comes ahead of Indonesia's 80th Independence Day celebrations on Sunday. Independence days marked South Korea will mark 80 years since the end of occupation by Japan during its National Liberation Day holiday. The day customarily features the announcement of presidential pardons, and this year local media have reported that prominent left-wing politician and former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, convicted of forging credentials, could be a recipient. India, meanwhile, will celebrate the end of British rule over the South Asian nation, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to deliver a speech from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi. On Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will address his country's National Day Rally, after the city-state's 60th anniversary of independence on Aug. 9. Ong Beng Seng sentencing A Singaporean court is set to sentence property tycoon Ong Beng Seng after he pled guilty to his role in a gifts scandal involving former Transport Minister S. Iswaran. The latter was given a year's prison term, which he finished serving in June. Ong could potentially receive a fine, as the 79-year-old, who has multiple medical issues, could be deemed too frail for jail time. Data: Japan GDP, Malaysia GDP
Yomiuri Shimbun
18 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
IRS, White House Clashed over Immigrants' Data before Tax Chief Was Ousted
The Internal Revenue Service clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants hours before Trump administration officials forced IRS Commissioner Billy Long from his post Friday, according to two people familiar with the situation. The Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list Thursday of 40,000 names of people DHS officials thought were in the country illegally and asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The Treasury Department, the parent agency of the IRS, and DHS agreed to an arrangement in April to facilitate such data sharing – over the objections of the tax service's privacy lawyers. DHS officials have suggested they would eventually ask the IRS for help locating 7 million people. There are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to federal estimates. On Friday, though, the IRS responded that it was able to verify fewer than 3 percent of the names immigration enforcement officials submitted, the people said. The names the agency could match were mainly the individuals for whom DHS provided an individual taxpayer identification number. An ITIN is an IRS-specific ID that immigrants often use in place of a Social Security number on a tax filing. Undocumented immigrants pay tens of billions of dollars in taxes each year, which the ITINs help facilitate. White House officials requested additional information on the taxpayers the IRS identified, the people said – specifically, if any of them had claimed the earned income tax credit, which can reduce the tax bill for some low-income filers. The IRS declined to provide that information, citing taxpayer privacy rights. Long had previously told agency executives that his agency would not furnish confidential taxpayer information outside of the confines of the IRS's agreement with DHS, the people said. Still, the people did not know if tension over the IRS's role in President Donald Trump's mass deportation drive contributed to Long's departure from the IRS. 'The Trump administration is working in lockstep to eliminate information silos and to prevent illegal aliens from taking advantage of benefits meant for hardworking American taxpayers,' White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. 'Any absurd assertion other than everyone being aligned on the mission is simply false and totally fake news,' she added after this story was published. DHS said in a statement that the agreement with the IRS 'outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer information is protected, while allowing law enforcement to effectively pursue criminal violations.' 'After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, these processes streamline pursuit of violent criminals, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense, all while protecting American citizens' safety and data,' the statement said. Treasury Department officials did not immediately return a request for comment. Long on Friday said Trump intended to nominate him as the U.S. ambassador to Iceland after less than two months in the IRS job. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as the interim IRS commissioner. Trump administration officials confirmed both moves. Long jokingly posted on social media Friday that he'd called Trump and asked to join ICE, or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 'I guess he thought I said Iceland?' Long wrote. 'Oh well.' Long had previously sparred with Treasury officials over plans to start tax filing season around Presidents' Day in February – about a month behind schedule – and also preemptively announced plans to eliminate the IRS's Direct File program, even though Treasury officials had not decided to do so, according to four people familiar with the events, who similarly spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'Billy Long did a great job while at the IRS, and his promotion to ambassador was previously slated to happen,' a White House official said Saturday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Long, a former six-term Republican congressman from Missouri, was confirmed to the position in mid-June. Trump broke tradition by not allowing the former Biden-appointed IRS commissioner, Danny Werfel, to serve out his full five-year term. He was the sixth IRS leader since the start of the year. One early acting commissioner left amid churn at the agency due to the administration's cost-cutting campaign led by Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service, while another left after the agency agreed to the DHS data-sharing arrangement. A third acting commissioner was pushed out after only two days because of an internal conflict between Musk and Bessent.
