Welcome to Your Week in Asia.
Apple is set to open its first two directly run stores in India this week, looking to take a slice of the growing middle- and upper-class market now dominated by Chinese and South Korean brands.
China’s Huawei Technologies will hold its annual Global Analyst Summit. The telecommunications equipment giant recently said it will support all China’s efforts to be self-sufficient in chips and that the company and its partners have jointly developed electronic design automation (EDA) tools — vital software for designing chips — for 14-nanometer chip technology. Separately, industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is announcing first quarter results on Thursday.
Japan will hold the second round of local elections next Sunday, with voters picking mayors and assembly members for wards in Tokyo, smaller cities, towns and villages. It is also holding five by-elections for the nation’s parliament.
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MONDAY
G-7 foreign ministers convene in Karuizawa, Japan
The three-day meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations will run until Tuesday after kicking off on Sunday in Karuizawa in Japan’s Nagano prefecture. Officials are expected to reaffirm the unity of the grouping in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to confirm support for Ukraine and continuing economic sanctions against Moscow.
The meeting is also likely to be dominated by the reaction to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statement following his China visit that Europe should not get “caught up in crises that are not ours,” in reference to Taiwan.
TUESDAY
Apple’s first India store opens
Apple will inaugurate its first store in India, signaling a big bet on the South Asian nation where it has also ramped up production. Apple is said to have assembled iPhones worth $7 billion in India in the fiscal year ending March 2023 through partners like Foxconn and Pegatron, as it looks to diversify manufacturing beyond China.
The first directly run store will be in Mumbai, with a second opening in New Delhi on Thursday.
Shanghai auto show
China’s premier auto show kicks off in Shanghai, drawing some 1,000 exhibitors from carmakers to companies throughout the supply chain. Under the theme of “embracing a new era” for the automobile industry, both traditional carmakers and electric vehicle startups, along with autonomous driving solution providers and battery manufacturers, are expected to display their latest products over the 10-day event.
China GDP
China publishes data on its gross domestic product for the January to March quarter, offering an indication of how the world’s No. 2 economy is recovering after ditching its zero-COVID policy in December. Numbers released so far have sent mixed signals, with March exports rebounding to growth after five months of contraction, while weakness remained in industrial production.
Monetary policy: Indonesia
WEDNESDAY
Taiwan display event
Touch Taiwan, one of the year’s most important display technology exhibitions, begins in Taipei. Leading Taiwanese display makers such as AUO and Innolux will showcase tech developments on screens for everything from TVs to medical devices and car controls. The display industry has been hit hard over the last year amid weakening demand for TVs, PCs and smartphones.
Go deeper: Taiwan tech suffers sales crash in sign of chip and PC slumps
Huawei Global Analyst Summit
China’s Huawei Technologies will host its annual Huawei Global Analyst Summit in Shenzhen on Wednesday and Thursday. One of the keynote speeches will come from the company’s rotating chairwoman and CFO, Sabrina Meng, who is also known as Meng Wanzhou.
THURSDAY
Earnings: TSMC
FRIDAY
Japan March CPI
Japan’s core inflation (excluding fresh food) is expected to have dipped by 3.0% from a year earlier in March slightly down from 3.1% in February from a year earlier thanks to easing prices for imported fuel. But if food and energy are stripped out, inflation is expected to come in at 3.6%, up from 3.5%, suggesting that rising prices for durable goods and services will stoke inflation for the time being.
WEEKEND
Japan elections
Voters will pick mayors and assembly members for wards in Tokyo, as well as cities, towns and villages across Japan on Sunday. Childcare support and high prices are expected to be among their key concerns.
Low turnouts and uncontested elections cast a shadow over votes that took place two weeks earlier, when voters selected governors in nine prefectures, mayors in six big cities, and assembly members in 41 prefectures and 17 major cities.
Along with the local elections, voting in five by-elections for the nation’s parliament will also take place on Sunday.
