India ready to rev up chipmaking, industry pioneer says

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India’s “late entry” into the global semiconductor race, he pinned hopes on pioneers such as Vellayan Subbiah to create a chip innovation hub.The chairman of CG Power, who oversees a newly commissioned semiconductor facility in western India, is seen as one of the early domestic champions of this strategic sector in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.”There has been more alignment between the government, policymakers, and business than I’ve ever seen in my working history,” Subbiah, 56, told AFP.”There’s an understanding of where India needs to go, and the importance of having our own manufacturing.”As US President Donald Trump shakes global trade with tariffs and hard-nosed transactionalism, Modi has doubled down on self-reliance in critical technologies.New Delhi, which flagged its push in 2021, has this year approved 10 semiconductor projects worth about $18 billion in total, including two 3-nanometre design plants, among the most advanced.Commercial production is slated to begin by the end of the year, with the market forecast to jump from $38 billion in 2023 to nearly $100 billion by 2030.Subbiah, whose CG Power is one of India’s leading conglomerates, predicts “over $100 billion, if not more”, will flow into the industry across the value chain in the next five to seven years.He said “symbiotic” public-private partnerships were “very exciting”.-‘Ability to accelerate’-Chips are viewed as key to growth and a source of geopolitical clout.India says it wants to build a “complete ecosystem”, and break the global supply chain dominance by a few regions.The government has courted homegrown giants such as Tata, alongside foreign players like Micron, to push design, manufacturing and packaging in joint ventures.CG Semi, a joint venture with CG Power, plans to invest nearly $900 million in two assembly and test plants, as well as to push its design company.”We are looking to design chips, so that we can own the (intellectual property) too — which is very important for India,” said Subbiah, a civil engineer by training with an MBA from the University of Michigan.Still, critics say India is decades late starting, and remains far behind chip leaders in Taiwan, the Netherlands, Japan and China.”First we have to recognise there is a gap,” Subbiah said, noting Taiwan’s TSMC has a 35-year head start. But he insists India’s scale and talent pool — the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people — gives it “a significant ability to accelerate” production.- ‘More complicated’-Modi this month said that “20 percent of the global talent in semiconductor design comes from India”.But wooing talent who sought opportunities abroad back to India remains a challenge, even after Trump’s restrictions on the H-1B skilled worker visa programme, heavily used by Indians.India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, still struggles with bureaucratic inertia and a lack of cutting-edge opportunities.Subbiah acknowledged that his own venture employs about 75 expatriates.”That’s not the way we want to grow. We want to grow with Indians,” he said, calling for policies to lure back overseas talent. “How do we bring these people back?”But the path is tougher than in 2021, when New Delhi first pushed for chip self-sufficiency.While India has secured semiconductor and AI investment pledges from partners such as Japan — which pledged $68 billion in August — Trump is expected to be less willing than past US leaders to back ventures that build Indian capacity.”The geopolitical situation overall has become more complicated,” Subbiah said.Yet he remains upbeat for the long run.”There are only going to be two really low-cost ecosystems in the world: one is China, and the other is going to be India,” he said.”You’re going to see the centre of gravity move towards these ecosystems, if you start thinking about a 25-30 year vision”. 

Asian stocks mixed, Wall St futures drop as US heads for shutdown

Asian markets stuttered, US futures fell and gold hovered near record highs Wednesday after lawmakers in Washington failed to reach a deal to avert a government shutdown.The prospect of federal services being closed overshadowed optimism the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again, with the crisis possibly causing the postponement of key data used by the bank to decide on policy.Democrats and Republicans have been unable to bridge their differences on funding the government beyond Tuesday — the end of the fiscal year — with both sides blaming each other.Senate Republicans tried to rubber-stamp a House-passed temporary funding patch — but could not get the handful of Democratic votes required to send it to President Donald Trump’s desk.Democrats want to see hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare spending for low-income households restored, which the Trump administration is likely to eliminate.”We’ll probably have a shutdown,” the Republican president told reporters before the vote. Such a scenario would see non-essential operations grind to a halt, leaving hundreds of thousands of civil servants temporarily without pay, and payment of many social safety net benefits potentially disrupted.Trump threatened to punish Democrats and their voters during any stoppage by targeting progressive priorities and forcing mass public sector job cuts.”So we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected,” he said”And they’re Democrats, they’re going to be Democrats,” he told an event at the White House, adding that he would use the pause to “get rid of a lot of things we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things”.While most shutdowns end after a short period with little effect on markets, investors remain concerned, particularly as it could prevent the release Friday of the key non-farm payrolls report — a crucial guide for the Fed on rate decisions.”Without (the report), the Fed would be forced to navigate October’s decision by starlight rather than compass, relying on smaller surveys and anecdotal signals,” wrote Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”The October cut looks assured… but beyond that, the path becomes guesswork. Traders hate nothing more than an information vacuum. In its absence, every tick of secondary data looms larger than it should, amplifying volatility.”Futures on all three main indexes in New York were in the red — with the Dow coming off a record — and Asian equities were mixed.Tokyo, Sydney and Manila fell, while Singapore, Seoul and Taipei rose.Gold, a go-to in times of turmoil and uncertainty, was hovering just below its record high of $3,871.72 owing to a weaker dollar, bets on lower borrowing costs and worries about the impact of the shutdown.In company news, Australian mining titan BHP fell more than one percent following reports that China’s state-run iron ore buyer told steelmakers to temporarily stop buying seagoing, dollar-denominated cargoes from the firm, as part of a pricing dispute.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the move “disappointing”.- Key figures at around 0215 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 44,480.02Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1736 from $1.1739 on TuesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3439 from $1.3448Dollar/yen: UP at 148.00 yen from 147.86 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.33 pence from 87.29 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $62.50 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $66.18 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 46,397.89 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 9,350.43 (close)

South Korea posts record semiconductor exports in September

South Korea recorded its highest ever semiconductor exports in September, official data showed Wednesday, despite growing pressure from US tariffs and other restrictions on the crucial sector.Seoul logged more than $16.6 billion in exports of semiconductors last month, up by more than a fifth from September 2024, according to data from the country’s industry ministry.The surge was driven by high demand for high-value memory such as HBM chips used in AI servers, the industry ministry said.Cars, the country’s other key export, also performed strongly, with auto shipments climbing to $6.4 billion, the highest ever recorded for the month of September.Driven by these strong figures, overall exports reached $65.9 billion, — the highest in more than 42 months.Exports rose to all major regions except the United States, which fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier to $10.27 billion, weighed down by tariffs on steel, automobiles and machinery.Asia’s fourth-largest economy was initially hit with a 25 percent across-the-board tariff by the United States but managed to secure a last-minute agreement for a reduced 15 percent rate.South Korea is one of Washington’s biggest trade partners, with automobiles leading the pack in exports.The country has yet to secure a deal, with auto tariffs reduced from 25 to 15 percent but not yet in effect, unlike in neighbouring Japan.Tariffs of 50 percent also remain in place on some key exports such as steel and aluminium.The new record is a “valuable achievement made by our companies, who swiftly diversified their export markets despite the unfavourable conditions of weakened exports to the US caused by tariff measures,” industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said in a statement.”Uncertainty surrounding our exports remains high due to ongoing US tariff negotiations, and we must remain vigilant and respond swiftly,” said Kim. He added that “the government will strengthen policy support to ensure that our companies can maintain export competitiveness.”

A close-up of a stack of newspapers resting on a desk, symbolizing information and media.

Un homme recherché aux Etats-Unis pour avoir décapité un lion de mer

Un homme était recherché mardi aux États-Unis pour avoir décapité un lion de mer sans vie, un acte illégal que la Californie a subi deux fois en moins d’un an.Les autorités offrent 20.000 dollars de récompense pour des informations permettant d’interpeller le suspect, qui a utilisé un couteau de chasse pour commettre son méfait en juillet.”Après avoir scié la tête du phoque, il a placé la tête dans un sac plastique zippé et a quitté la zone dans une Cadillac Escalade blanche modèle récent”, selon un communiqué de l’Agence américaine d’observation océanique et atmosphérique (NOAA). Le suspect est décrit comme un homme blanc, chauve, avec une barbe fournie, qui a l’air d’avoir entre 50 et 60 ans. Il a commis son forfait sur la plage de Point Pinos, à environ 130 kilomètres au sud de San Francisco.Un autre lion de mer décédé avait déjà été décapité le jour de Noël 2024, cette fois-ci à une centaine de kilomètres au nord de San Francisco. Le suspect dans cette affaire aurait environ 20 ans de moins et a également placé la tête du pinnipède dans un sac plastique, selon les autorités.Il aurait pris la fuite sur un vélo électrique à pneus larges.Aux Etats-Unis, il est illégal de harceler, chasser, capturer ou tuer les lions de mer et autres espèces de faune marine.Les lions de mer sont emblématiques de la côte ouest de l’Amérique du Nord. Leurs aboiements distinctifs peuvent souvent être entendus à San Francisco, que ce soit le long des quais ou près du Golden Gate Bridge, le fameux pont. Connus pour leur intelligence, ils sont parfois entraînés à effectuer des tours dans les cirques et aquariums, et ont été utilisés par la marine américaine pour mener des opérations militaires.

A close-up of a stack of newspapers resting on a desk, symbolizing information and media.

La banquise antarctique atteint son troisième plus bas niveau en un demi-siècle

La banquise d’hiver dans l’Antarctique a atteint son troisième plus bas niveau en près d’un demi-siècle d’observation par satellite, ont annoncé mardi des chercheurs, soulignant l’influence croissante du changement climatique sur le pôle Sud.A chaque hiver de l’hémisphère sud, l’océan autour de l’Antarctique gèle sur des centaines de kilomètres au-delà du continent, avec un pic généralement observé en septembre ou octobre, avant le début d’un cycle de dégel.Cette année, la surface de glace semble avoir atteint son maximum le 17 septembre avec 17,81 millions de kilomètres carrés, selon des chiffres préliminaires du Centre national américain des données sur la neige et la glace de l’université du Colorado à Boulder.Le maximum de 2025 se classe donc au troisième rang des plus bas niveaux enregistrés en 47 ans, derrière le record de 2023 et la deuxième place tenue par l’hiver 2024.Jusqu’en 2016, les mesures prises montraient “une augmentation irrégulière mais légère au fil du temps” de la surface de glace de mer (ou banquise) dans l’Antarctique, relève Ted Scambos, chercheur à l’université du Colorado à Boulder.Mais, ajoute-t-il à l’AFP, “ce qui semble se produire, c’est que la chaleur des océans se mêle désormais à l’eau la plus proche de l’Antarctique”, ce qui signifie que le changement climatique a finalement rattrapé les mers gelées du continent austral.La glace de mer n’augmente pas le niveau de la mer lorsqu’elle fond. Mais cette fonte a un impact sur le climat: le blanc de la glace réfléchit presque toute l’énergie solaire vers l’espace, leur remplacement par une surface d’eaux, plus sombre, participe au réchauffement climatique puisqu’elle absorbe cette même quantité d’énergie sans la renvoyer.La banquise agit également comme un tampon, en empêchant la calotte glaciaire antarctique (la glace installée sur le continent) de pénétrer dans l’océan et d’amplifier l’élévation du niveau de la mer.La fonte de la banquise pourrait aussi avoir un effet a priori paradoxal, souligne le scientifique Ted Scambos: “une augmentation des chutes de neige en Antarctique, car l’air humide au-dessus de l’océan serait plus proche de la côte” de l’Antarctique.Les données historiques montrent qu’à long terme, la calotte glaciaire se rétrécit inexorablement en cas de réchauffement climatique, précise néanmoins Ted Scambos.

Nike shares rally on progress in turnaround

Nike reported a surprise increase in quarterly sales Tuesday, pointing to progress on a turnaround as it forecast a bigger cost hit from US tariffs.Shares of the sports giant jumped in after hours-trading as Nike executives said their strategic pivot — branded as “Win Now” — was beginning to see greater success.”I’m encouraged by the momentum we generated in the quarter, but progress will not be linear as dimensions of our business recover on different timelines,” said Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend.Profits were $727 million in Nike’s first quarter of fiscal 2026, down 31 percent from the year-ago level. Revenues inched one percent higher to $11.7 billion.Sales rose in every region except Greater China.The results topped analyst estimates in both earnings and revenues. But Friend lifted the company’s estimate of the total cost from US tariffs under President Donald Trump’s administration to an annual hit of $1.5 billion from the prior $1 billion.Friend also lowered the forecast for profit margins in the coming quarter.The sports giant in recent years has struggled with an oversupply of merchandise that fell flat with consumers, necessitating heavy promotions and raising doubts about innovation.Nike’s heavy emphasis on direct selling to consumers under prior management meant scaling back relationships with wholesalers that company leaders are now working to rebuild.In September 2024, Nike announced the return of company veteran Elliot Hill as CEO. Hill said Tuesday the company was working to deepen promotional efforts by sport and through the company’s brands of Jordan and Converse, in addition to namesake Nike.Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail described the results as a partial victory.”All in all, we think Nike is making progress. But there is a lot more work to be done in resetting the brand at a macro level and to gain ground among different pockets and tribes of consumers that now form the sportswear market,” Saunders said in a note.Shares of Nike rose 3.6 percent in after-hours trading.