Drugs and machines do not usually mix well, but the results in the pharma and TMT sectors this week were far from disastrous. Apple continued to defy every known logic of gadgetry, even the price-killing effects of Moore’s Law. Asian companies are racing to catch up. LG Electronics turned in a solid first quarter performance after recording losses in 2011. China’s ZTE, the world’s fourth biggest mobile phone maker, announced ambitions to become number three by 2015. And chipmakers TSMC and Hynix moved in opposite directions with the former planning record investment this year. In the telecoms sector, meanwhile, Vodafone made a low-ball offer to put C&W Worldwide out of its misery. In India, regulators proposed a nonsensical plan to auction reclaimed 2G spectrum. And in the US, wireless carriers struggled to squeeze a profit out of the ultra-competitive market.
把藥品和機器摻和到一起的效果通常不是很好，但本週製藥業和TMT（電信、媒體和科技）行業報出的季度業績卻絕對稱不上糟糕。蘋果(Apple)繼續藐視科技業的所有已知邏輯，就連具有強烈抑價效應的摩爾定律(Moore’s Law)也對它無可奈何。亞洲公司正在全速追趕。LG電子(LG Electronics)雖然在2011年錄得虧損，但今年第一季度卻報出了強勁的業績。全球第四大手機生產商、中國的中興通訊(ZTE)也公佈了希望到2015年晉升爲業界第三的抱負。晶片製造商台積電(TSMC)和海力士(Hynix)則是冰火兩重天，前者計劃今年進行空前規模的投資。在電信業，沃達豐(Vodafone)同意以低價收購C&W Worldwide，助其脫離苦海。在印度，監管機構提出了一個荒謬的計劃，擬拍賣已收回的2G頻段。在美國，無線營運商艱難地從競爭極其激烈的市場中壓榨出一點利潤。