Laos has been added to a list of 63 countries and regions whose citizens may travel to Thailand without quarantine if fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Ultimaker, Imaginables and FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia collaborate to bring 3D printing to classrooms
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Media OutReach – 1 November 2021 – Ultimaker, the global leader in professional 3D printing announces a reseller partnership with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia. This partnership seeks to supply the growing demands of educational institutions that are looking to plug the additive manufacturing (AM) skills gap and empower students to enter the workforce as leaders with an AM-ready mindset. Providing onsite technical support with a 24-hour turnaround, this leading company is offering Australian universities and educational institutions a smarter, more efficient, and cost-effective 3D printing solution to integrate into their classrooms and curriculums.
Companies continue to adopt 3D printing for prototyping, product design, and production – across a range of industries such as aerospace, automotive, defence and medical. And as AM has become globally recognized as a mainstream manufacturing technology, the demand for an AM curriculum has also increased.
Ultimaker provides an ideal platform for developing creative young minds. Combining affordability, connectivity, and advanced dual extrusion, Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle ensures a safer working environment. The Air Manager provides a closed, inside-out airflow for the Ultimaker S5 3D printer, filtering up to 95% of all ultrafine particles (UFPs) emitted during 3D printing. With the build chamber and material spools safely inside, users can enjoy peace of mind and a safer workplace.
Mr Benjamin Tan, Vice President of Ultimaker Asia Pacific commented, “Our trusted distributor in Australia, Imaginables, signalled a growing need for enhanced support services for the educational sector and I believe together with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia, we can deliver a turnkey holistic 3D printing curriculum to better support Australian educators in their printing needs.”
“We are extremely excited to partner with Ultimaker as it enables us to broaden our technology offering to our current Education customers, offering a complementary solution that meets the needs of students along with providing 3D curriculum support for educators in the classroom. With our existing expertise and knowledge in the education space, the addition of Ultimaker will help educators nurture the STEAM professionals of tomorrow. Ultimately, the partnership helps us deliver upon our company values and customer promise of both innovation and exceptional value,” says Tony O’Connor, Chief Sales Officer, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia.
About Ultimaker
Since 2011, Ultimaker has built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials that enable professional designers and engineers to innovate every day. Today, Ultimaker is the market leader in desktop 3D printing. From offices in the Netherlands, New York, Boston, and Singapore – plus production facilities in Europe and the US – its global team of over 400 employees work together to accelerate the world’s transition to digital distribution and local manufacturing. Ultimaker.com
#Ultimaker
About FUJIFILM Business Innovation
FUJIFILM Business Innovation is committed to continue offering innovations to businesses globally to help maximise their organisational strengths. We have pioneered numerous technologies and accumulated expertise since our establishment as Fuji Xerox in 1962, to build an environment that encourages the use of one’s creativity by effectively adopting information and knowledge. As a U.S. 9-billion-dollar enterprise with approximately 40,000 employees globally, our portfolio includes conducting R&D, manufacturing and sales of world-class multifunction printers, production printers and IT solutions, as well as business process outsourcing services. On April 1, 2021, FUJIFILM Business Innovation changed its name from Fuji Xerox to a name that embodies its commitment to continue as a company that always pursues business innovation. https://fujifilm.com/fbau
About Imaginables
Imaginables is the official distributor of Ultimaker in Australia. Established since 2013, Imaginables have been supplying and supporting Australian customers with the latest 3D printing and digital fabrication technology from Ultimaker. Headquartered in Melbourne, Imaginables service customers throughout Australia directly and via its extensive Authorised Ultimaker Reseller Network in all states and territories. https://imaginables.com.au
Laos Extends Covid Restriction Measures With View to Reopening Schools
The Government of Laos has extended Covid-19 restriction measures but has included provisions for the reopening of schools in the near future.
Luang Prabang Relaxes Lockdown Measures
Luang Prabang City is to ease its unpopular lockdown measures, which many residents say were overly strict.
Laos Confirms 858 New Cases of Covid-19
Laos has recorded 858 new cases of Covid-19 across the country today with a new outbreak in Luang Namtha.
Evergrande technically defaulted, forcing HSBC and other international banks to write off 197 billion US dollars
BERLIN, GERMANY – Newsaktuell – 29 October 2021 – For the second time in a week, China Evergrande Group has apparently technically defaulted on interest payments to international investors. This further manifests the bankruptcy of the real estate developer. The real estate group has accumulated a mountain of debt totaling $305 billion. In the eight weeks to the end of the year alone, nearly $338 million in interest will be due. Should the Evergrande insolvency not only drag down China’s real estate sector, but the entire economy of the country, we will see even bankruptcies of major international banks – such as HSBC, fears DMSA senior analyst Dr. Marco Metzler.
Today, the grace period for overdue interest of $47.5 million on an off-shore bond issued by the second largest real estate developer in China ended. But there has been no official confirmation of any payment of that interest by the close of business at Hong Kong banks. There are only unconfirmed media reports about an interest payment that is said to have been instructed today. However, Evergrande has not officially confirmed this payment yet. No wonder, for example, that a recent report in the Financial Times today doubts that the money has actually paid to creditors. “This is basically the same game as a week ago,” notes DMSA senior analyst Dr. Marco Metzler.
Even for the overdue interest payment on October 23 in the volume of about $83 million, there is still no official confirmation from investors. “Even our inquiries to affected investors since then did not bring any confirmation for the interest receipt,” explains DMSA senior analyst Dr. Marco Metzler. (Note to editors: See also our press release of 25.10.2021) “Thus, the bankruptcy has apparently already technically occurred,” analyzes Metzler. The developer had already previously given no more information on whether it can still avoid a payment default. Efforts to raise further capital have also largely failed. For example, the plan to sell a majority stake in its real estate management subsidiary.
Behind the scenes, negotiations were hectic until the very end. According to news agency Bloomberg, Evergrande representatives met with affected bond investors in New York at 4 p.m. local time on Oct. 28. In the talks, institutional creditors requested information on the status of real estate projects, liquidity and asset valuations, informed sources said. The meeting ended without an official result, but with a commitment to make interest payments. The result was published by the New York Times still yesterday and taken up by the media as if the payments had already been made. However, this is not the case so far.
The developer defaulted on three coupon payment rounds in September and October totaling nearly $280 million. However, a 30-day grace period is still running in some cases. Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 28, a total of coupon payments on offshore bonds with an interest volume of nearly $338 million are now due.
In Dr. Metzler’s view, the Evergrande case also throws a spotlight on Beijing: “The Chinese state is clearly not interested in bailing out for the international debts of Chinese corporations.” He says this is evidenced, for example, by the fact that China’s financial market regulator summoned all property developers to a meeting this week and called on them to repay their international debts themselves.
And that’s where things come in: A study by rating agency Standard & Poor’s dated Oct. 27, 2021, shows that China’s real estate developers alone are due to redeem paper with a face value of $40 billion by the end of the year. According to a study by Goldman Sachs, the foreign debts of Chinese real estate developers total around 197 billion US dollars.
“Given such volumes and the low creditworthiness of many Chinese real estate developers, it is to be expected that interest and redemption of the international bonds issued by Chinese real estate developers will almost completely default,” warns Metzler. “Especially since there are hardly any possibilities to collect the debts in China.”
It is true that an agreement between Beijing and Hong Kong (Mutual recognition and assistance to insolvency proceedings) has been in place since May 14, 2021, which is intended to make it easier for foreign creditors to enforce their asset claims even in China itself when Hong Kong companies – like Evergrande – stumble. However, doubts are now growing as to whether this bilateral framework is sufficient to protect the claims of institutional foreign creditors in the case of Evergrande, whose holding company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
“The Evergrande bankruptcy case is extremely complex with domiciliary company in Cayman Islands as holding company and assets in China. In the end, there will be little to nothing left for bondholders,” predicts DMSA expert Dr. Metzler, referring to his former employer, rating agency Fitch, which had already downgraded the group’s credit rating to C at the end of September, assigning a recovery rating of RR6 for outstanding bonds. Fitch therefore assumes that in the event of Evergrande’s bankruptcy, only zero to ten percent of the capital invested by bond investors would be returned to them. Assuming an average return of five percent, international investors would have to immediately write off around $22.5 billion in the event of an Evergrande insolvency, as Metzler demonstrated in detail in its study “The Great Reset – Evergrande and the Final Meltdown of the Global Financial System” dated Oct. 24, 2021. (Note to editors: This study also includes a list of Evergrande’s international creditors along with the amount of outstanding principal).
But it may not stop at $22.5 billion in write-downs. In the meantime, DMSA senior analyst Metzler considers it quite possible that Evergrande could drag China’s entire real estate sector down with it. This could have serious implications for major international banks such as HSBC. According to their figures for the third quarter of 2021, Hong Kong’s largest bank alone has extended loans totaling 19.6 billion U.S. dollars to Chinese real estate groups. Assuming a recovery rate of five percent in the event of an industry-wide wave of bankruptcies triggered by Evergrande, HSBC alone would have to write off around USD 18 billion.
If one also considers the limited possibilities of international banks to access assets in China (see above), there is much more at stake for HSBC: the default of the entire portfolio of Chinese corporate loans. And that, after all, is worth around $196 billion. “Such immense lending to Chinese companies, without a guaranteed possibility of accessing collateral in China itself in the event of bankruptcy, is irresponsible in my view,” says financial expert Metzler. With a return of five percent, HSBC would have to write off around 186 billion dollars in this case. That would correspond to almost the entire equity capital of the bank. And would probably lead immediately to its bankruptcy. This would make HSBC a victim of the Chinese financial virus, which would then spread rapidly throughout the international financial markets. “The Great Reset – the final meltdown of the current global financial system – has long since ceased to be a purely intellectual thought experiment,” concludes Dr. Metzler.
Please find more information and the research report at www.dmsa-agentur.de
About DMSA Deutsche Markt Screening Agentur GmbH:
DMSA Deutsche Markt Screening Agentur GmbH, is an independent data service that collects and evaluates market-relevant information on companies, products and services. DMSA sees itself as an advocate for consumers, private customers and intelligent investors. The claim: to always look at companies and providers, products and services through the eyes of the customers. The customers are the focus of DMSA’s work. For them, important and decision-relevant information is bundled and presented as market screenings. The aim is to create more transparency for consumers when selecting products, investments and services.
#DMSA
Taiwan’s AI Day 2021 Enters the Metaverse with Virtual Exhibition and Forum
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 29 October 2021 – Taiwan’s top annual event for artificial intelligence, AI Day 2021, assembled key international stakeholders from across public and private sectors at Gaming Space in Taipei from October 27 to 28 morning, and online until October 29.
The physical event featured award ceremonies, announcements and insights from Taiwan’s foremost AI industry think tanks and special interest groups. Esteemed guests included the Director General of Taiwan’s Industrial Development Bureau, Mr. Jang-Hwa Leu and Gretchen O’Hara, Vice President of US AI & Sustainability Strategy at Microsoft.
Online, the virtual AI Day 2021 Exhibition connects AI-related companies from different industries in one place, promoting global collaboration and B2B networking. Meanwhile, the virtual AI Day 2021 Forum stages talks (in English) from six business leaders about the bleeding-edge AI innovations spearheaded by each of their respective organizations.
AI Day 2021 Forum
Three out of the six forum speakers explore topics related to edge AI and smart manufacturing. Chia Wei Yang, Director of Edge Vision Business Center at ADLINK Technology — one of the world’s leading edge computing companies — gives a talk on smart manufacturing entitled “Re-evolve Digital Transformation with Edge AI Vision”. Also Jack Chao, Executive Vice President of AUO Digitech — a leading provider of digital transformation services — introduces “Smart Manufacturing for Roll to Roll Process”, referencing applications in flexible displays, new battery materials and more.
Bruce Bateman, Chief Advisor of LITEON — a world-leading provider in optoelectronic components and key electronic modules — begins his talk with an overview of the realtime two-way communications in a smart factory. He reveals his organization’s belief that edge computing will include machine learning accelerator chips, then goes on to introduce the thinking behind federated machine learning in AI.
Two of the forum speakers hail from Taiwan-based IC design firms. James Wang, CSSO of eYs3D Microelectronics — a fabless design house that focuses on end-to-end software and hardware systems for computer vision technology — advocates a silicon-centric approach to edge computing and focuses on robotics. Meanwhile, Director of Egis Technology — a Taiwan-based IC design firm that specializes in fingerprint sensors — TH Po explains how AI is utilized in his company’s latest anti-spoofing technology.
Nolan Chen, Manager of iAmbition Technology — an emerging company that specializes in human detection and tracking — presents his company’s “AI Smart Care System”, which has applications in construction and healthcare. The system utilizes convolutional neural network (CNN) to build a deep learning engine and detect human vital signs, such as heartbeat and breathing rate.
About AI Day
Organized by Taiwan’s Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and executed by Taipei Computer Association and Institute for Information Industry, AI Day is Taiwan’s top annual event for artificial intelligence.
#AIDay2021
China Mobile Hong Kong Invests HK$649 million to Successfully Acquire 700 MHz, 2.5/2.6 GHz and 4.9 GHz Bands
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 29 October 2021 – China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) announces that it has successfully acquired for a total of 90 MHz of radio spectrum in the 700 MHz, 2.5/2.6 GHz and 4.9 GHz frequency bands, representing an investment of HK$649 million. Together with the 26/28 GHz frequency bands previously assigned by the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA), and 120 MHz of radio spectrum in the 3.3, 3.5 and 4.9 GHz frequency bands acquired in 2019, CMHK will lead the market as the mobile network operator with the most radio spectrum resources in Hong Kong.
The 700 MHz frequency band of radio spectrum acquired is a low-frequency band, which will help strengthen the overall coverage of the CMHK network. Meanwhile, a new bid for an additional 40 MHz of radio spectrum in the 4.9 GHz frequency band will greatly enhance CMHK’s 5G network speed. CMHK is dedicated to providing customers with a better quality, faster and more stable 5G mobile network, as it continues to take a leading role in the development of Hong Kong’s smart city framework.
At present, CMHK owns the following 5G frequency bands and radio spectrum:
|
26/28GHz |
700MHz |
2.1GHz |
3.3GHz |
3.5 GHz |
4.9 GHz |
CMHK |
400 MHz |
20 MHz |
20 MHz |
20 MHz |
60 MHz |
80 MHz |
About China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited
China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited (“CMHK”) is the wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile Limited (HKEx: 941), which ranks 56th on the Fortune Global 500. CMHK was incepted in January 1997 and was the first mobile network operator to launch PCS services in Hong Kong.
The Company offers innovative and comprehensive communications services, including voice, data, IDD and international roaming through 5G, 4G LTE and 3GHSPA and other technologies. The Company is committed to the development of 5G with new technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, cloud computing and big data, integrating 5G applications in different industries, and promoting the construction and development of smart city groups in the Greater Bay Area.
#ChinaMobileHongKong #CMHK