Stubborn inflation, bank crisis puts US Fed on a precipice

The Federal Reserve is facing a rather sticky problem. Despite its best efforts over the past year, inflation is stubbornly refusing to head south with any urgency to a target of 2%. Rather, the inflation report released on March 14, 2023, shows consumer prices rose 0.4% in February, meaning the year-over-year increase is now at […]Continue Reading

India’s newfound lithium riches could fuel tech revolution

Image of lithium batteries of various sizes. Photo: iStock/Getty Images

In February 2023, India’s government announced that the Geological Survey of India found around 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves in the Salal-Haimana region of Jammu and Kashmir. Lithium is sometimes termed “white gold” for its strategic importance as an essential metal in electrification. But India faces several challenges in capitalizing on its lithium deposits. […]Continue Reading

Nuclear power back en vogue in Japan

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed Japan to reevaluate its energy strategy once again. A sharp rise in the price of LNG, a lack of energy alternatives to reduce reliance on Russian LNG imports and Tokyo’s commitment to phasing out Russian coal and oil imports — all while ensuring Japan’s energy security — are making this reevaluation […]Continue Reading

Sifting fact from fear in SVB failure

Silicon Valley Bank, which catered to the tech industry for three decades, collapsed on March 10, 2023, after the Santa Clara, California-based lender suffered from an old-fashioned bank run. State regulators seized the bank and made the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation its receiver. SVB, as it’s known, was the biggest US lender to fail since […]Continue Reading

Hokkaido to become Japan’s new silicon island

Rapidus, Japan’s advanced logic foundry venture company, has chosen Chitose as the site for a new 5 trillion yen (US$37 billion) semiconductor production facility, a move that will pull the island nation’s northernmost region more firmly into its technology supply chain. Chitose, located 40 kilometers and 30 minutes by express train southeast of Sapporo on […]Continue Reading

Chinese industries to go digital or die

Companies in traditional sectors should take the initiative in the coming decade to go digital under Beijing’s newly announced “Digital China” plan or they will be eliminated, according to some academics. “Digitalization is now a global trend,” Zhang Jun, dean of economics at Fudan University, told guancha.cn in an interview. “Without it, China’s service and manufacturing sectors […]Continue Reading

Canada TikTok ban bad for the business of politics

New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, the most prolific Canadian politician on TikTok with almost 900,000 followers, has deactivated his profile in a move that will undermine his party’s attempts to engage with young voters through social media. On February 27, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced TikTok would be banned on all federal-issued government devices […]Continue Reading

What Africa can learn from the Asian Tigers

Economists have urged African countries to shift to low-cost manufacturing – the path that led countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan – to industrial prosperity. These East Asian economies – which recorded high growth rates of at least 7% between the 1950s and 1990s – are commonly referred to as the […]Continue Reading

Cosmic debris: Astroscale on space trash removal vanguard

TOKYO – Mitsubishi Electric has invested US$25 million in Astroscale, Japan’s leading space debris removal start-up, in a deal that will develop and manufacture satellite buses for Japan’s national security satellite constellations. The buses will be equipped with a standardized docking plate that other spacecraft can use when servicing, moving or deorbiting satellites that cannot […]Continue Reading