Reading Global(2022.03.03)
The competitiveness of Japan's semiconductor papers lags behind that of China and the United States
Japan Economic News reported on the 3rd that in the semiconductor-related international society, Japan's competitiveness has dropped significantly.
At the International Conference on Solid-State Circuits (ISSCC) held online on February 20-28, Japan accounted for only 3.5% of the papers that were adopted, further reducing the previous year's 6.2%. The backwardness of cutting-edge research may also affect the competitiveness of the industry.
The ISSCC, which is held every February, is called the "Olympic Games of Semiconductors". Together with the VLSI Symposium on Technology and Circuits in June and the International Conference on Electronic Devices (IEDM) in December, it is one of the largest semiconductor-related international societies in the world. In 2022, 651 papers were submitted to the ISSCC and 200 papers were adopted.
By country and region, the United States has 69 papers adopted, remaining the first. South Korea has 41 articles, Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao have 30 articles, Taiwan has 15 articles, and Japan has 7 articles, ranking only fifth. Japan remained second, behind the United States, until 2014, while slipping to third place in 2015. In 2016, it once returned to the second position, but since 2017, it has been hovering in the fourth and fifth positions.
The main reason is that Japanese semiconductor companies have been promoting integration due to sluggish performance, and the number of papers released by the industry has decreased. In 2022, only two papers were accepted by Japanese companies, from Canon and Renesas Electronics. In contrast, south Korea's Samsung Electronics, the United States Intel and the United States IBM and other companies have been adopted a number of papers.
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Ghosn's cronies Kelly to six months in prison
Kyodo News Agency reported on the 3rd that about the former chairman of Nissan Motor Company, Carlos? Ghosn (67) director remuneration, former representative director Greg on charges of violating Japan's Financial Instruments And Exchange Act (falsely recorded in securities reports)? Kelly (65) was sentenced by the Tokyo District Court to 6 months' imprisonment with a 3-year suspension (2 years' imprisonment). The court's judgment on Nissan was a fine of 200 million yen (about 10.93 million yuan), the same amount as the prosecution's request for punishment.
Prosecutors allege that Kelly misrepresented the 2010-2017 annual report, while the verdict only recognized collusion in 2017 and acquitted the 2010-2016 portion.
The biggest point of contention in this case is the "unpaid remuneration" given to Ghosn, which the court believes exists and should be recorded in the report, so it is a false record.
With regard to the testimony of the former Nissan Secretary General, who reached a plea bargain with the prosecution, the court denied some credibility, arguing that "due to the danger of complying with the prosecutor's intentions, it is necessary to carefully explore." ”
In its concluding remarks, prosecutors noted that it was Kelly who thought of paying the unpaid "behind-the-scenes" mechanism under other names, and denounced Nissan for "completely failing its verification function."
Kelly's defense lawyer, on the other hand, argued in the final argument that "a legal way to keep Ghosn at Nissan was found," adding that there was no direct evidence of unpaid compensation and that the testimony of the former secretary general was not credible. Nissan requested discretionary sentencing on the basis of acknowledging the content of the indictment.
According to the complaint, Ghosn's total remuneration from 2010 to 2017 was about 17 billion yen, and Kelly conspired with Ghosn to submit a report excluding the total of about 9.1 billion yen received by Ghosn after leaving office.
Japan: Omiljung has a fatality rate at least 40% higher than seasonal flu
Lianhe Zaobao reported on the 3rd that Japanese scientists said that the fatality rate of the new crown pneumonia variant virus Omiljung was at least 40% higher than that of seasonal influenza. This highlights the potential risks of prematurely lifting epidemic prevention measures and underestimating the health risks of the epidemic.
According to the analysis of scientists who provide consulting services to the Japanese Ministry of Health, based on the cumulative number of excess deaths and infections since January, the death rate of Omi Kerong in Japan is about 0.13%. Scientists say that while this is significantly lower than the 4.25 percent case mortality rate in the early stages of the outbreak, it is still higher than the 0.006 percent to 0.09 percent of seasonal flu.
The researchers revealed that the decline in fatality in Omiqueron after compared to Delta virus both reflects the reduced viral viability of the strain and also shows the benefits of vaccination. The findings also demonstrate the importance of taking prevention and control measures before full vaccination.
While Japan has yet to downgrade the outbreak, it has begun to ease border restrictions and quarantine periods for travelers, essential personnel, and close contacts to sustain economic growth.
ITV will compete with Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ through new streaming services
The Guardian reported on the 3rd that ITV will launch a new streaming service, combining advertising funding and subscription tv shows and movies, with the aim of becoming the champion in the battle between British audiences and US streaming giants (including Netflix, Amazon and Disney+).
ITV said the new ITVX service will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. ITVX will become its new main streaming brand, the existing free ITV Hub and paid, ad-free ITV Hub+ brands will be eliminated, and it will also broadcast content from its international paid streaming joint venture with the BBC, BritBox.
ITV said the new service will be dominated by free ad-funded content and has an optional subscription tier that will deliver a "starry" premiere and 15,000 hours of content to viewers each week when it launches in the fourth quarter of this year.
ITV said it currently has 1.2 million users at ITV Hub+ and Britbox UK, with the BBC being withdrawn as part of the ITVX rollout, while ITV Hub's registered user accounts increased by 6% to 34.7 million.
It is estimated that Netflix has 14 million paying subscribers in the UK, compared with 12 million for rival Amazon's Prime Video and nearly 5 million for Disney.
ITV said it would invest £80 million in the development of ITVX over the next two years and another £180 million dedicated to exclusive digital-first content to attract viewers and subscribers to the service.
As a result, ITV's overall content budget will increase from £1.16 billion projected to £1.23 billion this year and £1.35 billion next year, a level it says will be its new normal annual spending.
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Image source: Visual China
E-commerce giant Amazon will close 68 offline stores
Wall Street news, local time on March 2, 2022, e-commerce giant Amazon said that it will readjust the physical store strategy, closing 68 offline stores including bookstores, four-star stores and pop-up stores.
(This article is compiled from Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Kyodo News Agency, Liana Zaobao, Guardian)
Economic Observation Network intern reporter Zhou Yuqing sorted out