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Monday, May 20, 2019

Huawei does not need US chips: CEO on Trump export ban

Huawei Technologies CEO Ren Zhengfei says Huawei would be "fine" even if Qualcomm and other American suppliers would not sell chips to Huawei, because "we have already been preparing for this."

 
https://youtu.be/xcZS8QYky34
Chinese telecom giant will resist Washington pressure, Ren Zhengfei says

SHENZHEN, China -- Huawei Technologies' founder and chief executive blasted the Trump administration's decision to add his company to a government blacklist, insisting the Chinese telecom equipment maker has done nothing illegal.

"We have not done anything which violates the law," CEO Ren Zhengfei told Japanese media at company headquarters in Shenzhen on Saturday in his first interview since the  U.S. decision to restrict trade with Huawei.

Ren indicated that his company will continue developing its own chips to lessen the impact of the ban on its production. Ren said it would be "fine" even if Qualcomm and other American suppliers would not sell chips to Huawei. "We have already been preparing for this," he said.

Huawei unit HiSilicon Technologies, which mainly designs core processor chips, has made similar allusions to plans for dealing with a potential disruption in supply. In a recent open letter, President Teresa He Tingbo wrote, "We actually have foreseen this day for many years, and we do have a backup plan."

Echoing his tougher tone in recent months, Ren said his company will not be dictated to by Washington. "We will not change our management at the request of the U.S. or accept monitoring, as ZTE has done," he said.

The U.S. deployed a similar ban against ZTE last year, pushing the Chinese telecom company to the brink of bankruptcy.

Ren said the impact of the U.S. ban on Huawei's business will be limited, and expressed confidence in its longer-term outlook. "It is expected that Huawei's growth may slow, but only slightly," said Ren, citing the potential of annual revenue growth undershooting 20%.

"Policies that threaten trading partners one after another rob companies of risk-taking attitudes, and the U.S. will lose credibility," said Ren. On the other hand, he sees U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies providing the impetus for Chinese economic reforms. "I would even suggest that the environment will improve," said Ren.

Huawei's chief shot down the prospect of producing 5G equipment on American soil. "Even if the U.S. asks us to manufacture over there, we will not go," said Ren.

Huawei procures around $67 billion worth of components every year, with roughly $11 billion coming from U.S. suppliers. Huawei depends especially on American parts makers for semiconductors, and it is believed that the company could face problems going forward manufacturing smartphones and telecommunications equipment. - Nikkel Asian Review

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Read more : 

HiSilicon has released a series of chips geared for artificial intelligence under the name Kirin, which are currently used in some of Huawei's smartphones. The company has boasted that some Kirin chips can compete with the likes of Qualcomm Inc. and Nvidia Corp.

Huawei Unit Says It Can Help Ensure Chip Supply Without U.S. Tech, Amid Doubts - Caixin Global

 

 

Related posts:

 

 Huawei unveils server chipset as China cuts reliance on imports



Read  Source link: US, China: Frenemies? - World | The Star Online  Professor who predicted clash between great powers talks abo..

 

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/05/15/trump-signs-executive-order-targeting-huawei.html Key Points   President Donald Trump on Wedne.

 

 

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik comes under more fire over intake quota and Mandarin requirement for jobs

Can you spare a minute to look at this?
http://chng.it/bbZwKBNg


1⃣网民重启老马当教长运动
2⃣支持者秒速联署反映惊人
3⃣这匹马不行就换另一匹马
4⃣你签署了吗?
https://www.facebook.com/1423136211324341/posts/2078388995799056/

 


Read  Source link:  Maszlee comes under more fire

Ramasamy rips into Maszlee for linking private employment to matriculation quota 

Saturday, May 18, 2019

How to make living more affordable?


IN my previous article I asked the question, Do you earn enough to sustain your lifestyle?

The feedback received was consistent. People told me that they worry about the situation, some even wrote in to share their concern.

A reader by the name of Yap wrote me an email about his observation after reading my article.

“I always doubt how a family with a median household income can survive in KL. Based on my calculation, there is no way a family with two children can survive in KL with RM6,275 without accumulating bad debt or spending 4.5 hours to travel on the road. Housing is one of the factors, but not the only one,” he wrote in his email.

Belanjawanku, an expenditure guide launched by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in early March states that a married couple with two children spend about RM6,620 per month on food, transport, housing, childcare, utilities, healthcare, etc.

However, the median household income for Malaysians in 2016 was RM5,228. While the median income of M40 group (Middle 40%) was RM6,275, which means five out of 10 households in this category received RM6,275 per month or less. This is far below the RM6,620 required for a family with two children to stay in the Klang Valley.

Another alarming fact is... Belanjawanku compiles only core living expenses without including long-term financial planning tools such as education funds or investments. The actual budget constraint can be more severe if we take them into account.

The living cost in major cities is inevitably higher than in small towns or suburb areas.

As such, when we discuss housing affordability in the cities such as Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley, we shouldn’t impose the same benchmark of RM300,000 as everything else is more expensive in the city. Affordable housing should benchmark against the cost of living of the area.

Based on the research for Belanjawanku, even if housing was provided for free, a household of four would still need RM5,750 to sustain their lifestyle.

The transportation cost alone is RM1,040 for a family, higher than the RM870 allocated for housing.

Therefore, if a family is looking to lower their cost of living, moving to suburb areas would allow them to have a more affordable budget.

According to a news report which quoted information from brickz.my, the housing prices in KL are five times higher than in Seremban, with median housing price of RM1mil (RM940 psf) in the KL city centre, versus RM200,000 (RM210 psf) in Seremban.

Suburbs which are nearer to KL such as Klang and Shah Alam also offer attractive housing prices with a median price of RM340,000.

For families who stay in the city centre and plan to reduce their cost of living, they can consider moving to suburbs to enjoy a better quality of life, and leverage on the improved public transportation which offer hassle-free travelling from suburbs to city centre.

Although high living cost is a concern for many Malaysians, KL is ironically found to be the cheapest city to live out of the 11 major cities in Asia, according to the 2018 Wealth Report Asia.

We are “cheaper” or ranked lower than our neighbouring cities, including Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta. KL, Manila, and Jakarta are also the most price competitive cities when it comes to the residential properties segment.

Why are we still facing the challenge of high living costs despite being the “cheapest” city in the region? The underlying factor is because of the low household income earned by most Malaysians, as the previous government failed to transit us to a higher income nation.

In his email, Yap mentioned that “I always imagine what Malaysia can be if there were no leakages. Hundreds of billions could be spent to stimulate various industries. Our GDP per capita could be close to if not similar to Singapore’s”.

That is the vision and sentiment shared by a majority of Malaysians. With the new government that promises to be more transparent and efficient, we hope that one day, we can afford to live comfortably in any city we wish to, with a higher household income.

Datuk Alan Tong has over 50 years of experience in property development. He was the World President of FIABCI International for 2005/2006 and awarded the Property Man of the Year 2010 at FIABCI Malaysia Property Award. He is also the group chairman of Bukit Kiara Properties. For feedback, please email bkp@bukitkiara.com

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Related posts:

Do you earn enough to sustain your lifestyle?

Read more ..

Property crowdfunding kicks off - Business News



https://youtu.be/9UHUdhaPUzc
https://youtu.be/dACvYWheonI
https://youtu.be/CF8VnDwc1gk

Friday, May 17, 2019

Trump declares national emergency over threats against US technology amid campaign against Huawei, as China opposes

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/05/15/trump-signs-executive-order-targeting-huawei.html

Key Points 

  • President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared a national emergency over threats against American technology, the White House said.

  • The move, done via executive order, is expected to precede a ban on U.S. firms doing business with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.

  • The announcement comes as the U.S and China remain locked in a trade dispute.

Source link   
 

https://youtu.be/X05bmuEmxLE

China slams U.S. blacklisting of Huawei as trade tensions rise

Source link   


Huawei ban reflects 'Cold War mentality'

The latest ban on Huawei reflects Washington's dangerous Cold War mentality that will lead to further US-China decoupling, which is also casting a shadow over stalled trade talks between the two countries and will hurt the global tech industry, Chinese analysts said on Thursday.

Why Washington cannot contain Huawei

The US cannot strangle Huawei, nor will it be able to contain the development of China and deprive the 1.4 billion Chinese people of their development rights.



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Punitive duties on US$200bil in goods raises stakes in trade talks .  https://youtu.be/82NLXvMtn64 Chinese Vice Premier Liu He arrive..


Huawei gaining support despite US ban

 

Year 2018 review: Huawei and the technology cold war, competition in spheres of influence



Huawei CFO arrest violates human rights as US takes aim at Huawei, the real trade war with China



From trade war to global anarchy?

 

Employees believe Huawei will survive widespread bans in West with ‘Wolf spirit’ culture


 

 Huawei unveils server chipset as China cuts reliance on imports

 

Why Huawei’s 5G technology is seen as a threat by the US

Pay to win the dubious vanity awards

BBB Tip: Vanity Awards

Allure of vanity awards hard to dismiss

Your organisation may deserve an award but be aware of vanity awards disguised as legitimate prizes.

A vanity award is less of an honour because the recipient essentially has to fork out money for it. An organisation is asked to purchase the award by paying a high entry fee, sponsorship or other charges.

It is a business model that transcends borders and industries with US non-profit organisation Better Business Bureau issuing warnings about such schemes in the United States and Canada since 2008.

Even government bodies have been known to pay for vanity awards.

In 2017, The Star reported the Penang Municipal Council and Seberang Prai Municipal Council had revealed that they might have fallen for a vanity awards scheme by the Europe Business Assembly (EBA) in 2013 and 2014. (See related posts below)

Penang Island City Council mayor Datuk Maimunah Mohd said they won the EBA awards without assessment by any judges after paying a total of €7,800 (RM39,088) in entry fees.

The now retired Penang Island City Council (MBPP) mayor Datuk Patahiyah Ismail was awarded the Best Municipal Manager while the council was given the Best Municipality Award in 2013.

A year later, the Seberang Prai Municipal Council got the Best City award while its then president Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif was named the Best Municipal Manager.

Two European NGOs – the Center for Investigative Reporting of Serbia (CINS) and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) – exposed the EBA titles as a vanity awards scam.

The report states that such organisations sent solicitation letters to companies and government agencies in the world, telling them that they had been nominated for various awards.

“Anyone who replies, shows interest and agrees to pay gets an award. Most of the letters contain the ceremony programme generally held in an attractive European capital, pictures of the trophies and information about costs,” the report added.

In 2011, The Star highlighted the proliferation of dubious awards due to high demand for such prizes.

The report said some organisers were giving out less-than-credible awards and then asking the “winners” to sponsor or buy dinner tables at lavish presentation events.

The asking price for such sponsorships ranged from RM4,000 to RM30,000, with some companies admitting they paid up for fear of business rivals getting the awards instead.

The organisers also banked on these companies’ need for recognition to boost their business. These companies treated such sponsorship as investments.

The Star reported that when demand for such awards increased, the “supply” can be raised simply by creating new categories.

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Having to pay for a ‘win’ 

Legitimacy of money-making awards ceremonies questioned
 
‘Honours’ list: Adeva giving a speech at its awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. Screencap from APTTF’s Facebook page.
‘Honours’ list: Adeva giving a speech at its awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. Screencap from APTTF’s Facebook page.

Like most other people, leaders in the business world take pride in receiving recognition for their hard work and achievements. They also see value in being considered as among the best. These sentiments have helped spawn a lucrative mini industry built on award ceremonies that are more about earning money than honouring and encouraging excellence.

Businessmen have raised questions over the growing number of award programmes whose organisers demand payments from those who are supposedly nominated for prizes. The charges range from administrative fees to sponsorship.

Entrepreneur Jan Wong said he had been contacted by 10 different award organisers congratulating him on winning their awards but with one big condition.

“I was told that to qualify for the awards, I needed to pay for the nomination, a table (at the awards ceremony), marketing exposure or the trophy ,” said Wong, who was in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2017.

“If I don’t want to pay, I won’t win,” he added. He questioned the prestige of such awards.

There are similar concerns about a recent travel industry awards ceremony in Malaysia by a little-known organisation called the Asia Pacific Tourism and Travel Federation (APTTF).

Participants said they had doubts about the Asia Pacific Tourism and Travel Awards after the event turned disorderly. The Tourism Minister did not show up although the organiser said he would. Some winners received the wrong awards, while several others were not given their awards that day. “The chief executive officer’s explanation as to why they did not present our awards was that they had misplaced a box of trophies in the office,” participant Melissa (not her real name) said.

“When he was closing the event on stage he even asked if he had missed out any awards. But we were too polite to speak up.”Melissa said many award categories had five winners each. There was one category with about 30 winners, she added.

She said the event was supposed to be a prestigious gala dinner but it turned out to be a low-budget conference-style luncheon.

Participants paid RM575 to RM755 per seat or RM4,500 per table to attend the April 11 ceremony in a Kuala Lumpur hotel. There were about 200 award recipients.

In its promotional materials and conversations with participants, the APTTF claimed that Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) had endorsed and supported the awards ceremony.

However, both organisations have denied any such affiliation.

“Malaysia Airlines is not associated, has not endorsed nor has any involvement with the APTTF,” MAS told The Star.

Tourism Malaysia said it is not a member of the federation and that the APTTF Malaysian Chapter is not a recognised travel association.

“The APTTF Malaysian Chapter is not registered with the Registrar of Societies and is not found in the Companies Commission of Malaysia’s MYDATA portal,” said Tourism Malaysia, adding that it had declined the invitation to attend the awards ceremony.

Further checks by The Star revealed that the website photo of the APTTF chairman is a stock image (an image provided by an agency that can be used for a fee).

The website also has the text of a speech by the chairman addressing the award winners. He has a Japanese name that does not show up elsewhere in an Internet search.

According to former APTTF employees, the people behind the Asia Pacific Tourism and Travel Awards had also organised the Asia Lifestyle Tourism Awards (ALTA) through an organisation called Asian Sports Group.

“My job was to call hotels all over South-East Asia to convince them to join the APTTF as a member. The hotels had to pay a fee and an award would be given when they joined,” said Jeff (not his real name).

“We actively name-dropped tourism ministries to convince the hotels and tour operators to sign up,” he said, adding that the organiser also operated under the name ASG Management Group Sdn Bhd

. Sarah (not her real name) said she was tasked to organise ALTA 2018 which was supposed to be held in Shenzhen in September 2018. However, the event was cancelled although participants had purchased tickets to the event.

“The event didn’t happen because the company didn’t exist,” she said.

Thailand-based hotel operator Paisal Panchalad, who is among those affected by the cancellation of ALTA 2018, said the company did not reimburse the US$1,605 (RM6,638) he had paid despite multiple assurances from the CEO.

“CEO Adeva Sangkuni informed us that he would refund all money but he did not do that,” he said, adding that there were many others with the same complaint.

Sarah was not surprised that several winners of the KL awards ceremony last month did not receive their prizes. She said a similar thing happened in ALTA 2017, leading to a big hotel brand in Malaysia boycotting the organiser.

Sarah and Jeff said they suspected something was amiss with the company after discovering that many of the officials listed on the websites were fake.

The former employees claimed that the company did not pay their salaries during the one to two months that they worked there in mid-2018.

Last year, they lodged reports with the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Labour Department and the police against APTTF and ASG Management Group over the companies’ unregistered operations and the unpaid salaries

Source link   


Related stories:

APTTF’s CEO claims event received verbal support from ministry

‘Award winners’ feel the burn after falling for prestigious prize scam


Related posts:

Fake Awards Scam for Penang Island City Council, Seberang Perai Municipal Council !



Malaysian Public varsities, companies, GLC execs also recipients of EBA fake awards

  

Malaysian Public varsities, companies, GLC execs also recipients of EBA fake awards

 

New Mayor for Penang Island City Council

The Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) president will replace outgoing Mayor Datuk Patahiyah Ismail whose contract ends on June 30 th...