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TAIPEI (Reuters) -TSMC, the world's largest manufacturer of advanced artificial intelligence chips, is set to post a 28% jump in third-quarter profit to reach a record high due to surging demand for AI infrastructure, though U.S. tariffs may complicate its outlook. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's biggest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, is likely to report a net profit of T$417.7 billion ($13.65 billion) for the three months through September 30, showed an LSEG SmartEstimate compiled from 20 analysts. SmartEstimates place greater weight on forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. TSMC has already flagged a market-forecast-beating rise in third-quarter revenue of 30%. Any profit result above T$398.3 billion would be the chipmaker's highest-ever and its seventh consecutive quarter of profit growth. TSMC, Asia's most-valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of around $1.2 trillion – nearly three times that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics – will report financial results on Thursday and provide fourth-quarter guidance in an earnings call scheduled for 0600 GMT. On Wednesday, top semiconductor equipment maker ASML, for whom TSMC is a major customer, said third-quarter bookings beat market forecasts but that it expected a significant fall in demand from China next year. Samsung on Tuesday said it expected its biggest quarterly profit in over three years, also on the AI boom. It remains unclear how much U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs will affect TSMC. Taiwan's exports to the United States are currently subject to a 20% tariff, but that excludes chips. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick proposed last month that Taiwanese companies split their production of chips 50-50 between Taiwan and the U.S., compared to the current setup where the vast majority of production is on the island.  Taiwan has rejected that idea. TSMC is already investing $165 billion building factories in the U.S. in the state of Arizona. Shares in TSMC have gained 36% so far this year on optimism over AI, largely brushing off tariff concerns. The heavyweight's rise has powered the benchmark Taiwanese index's 18% advance over the same period. ($1 = 30.6110 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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(Reuters) -Apple's Ke Yang, the newly tapped executive leading an effort to develop a ChatGPT-like AI-driven web search, is stepping down to join Meta, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Apple, Meta and Yang did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. (Reporting by Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

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LONDON (Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson is facing the first lawsuits in Britain over allegations that its talc products cause cancer, as it fights tens of thousands of similar claims in the United States. The lawsuit was filed at the English High Court on Tuesday against J&J and Kenvue UK Limited, a subsidiary of Kenvue, J&J's former consumer health unit which was spun off in 2023. KP Law said it filed the case on behalf of more than 3,000 people who allege their ovarian cancer, mesothelioma or other diseases were caused by use of J&J's baby powder between 1965 and 2023.  The firm says J&J's talc products contained carcinogenic fibres, including asbestos, which has been linked to deadly mesothelioma. J&J has long maintained that its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos. J&J referred queries to Kenvue, which it said "retained the responsibility and any purported liability for talc-related litigation outside of the United States and Canada". Kenvue said in a statement that J&J baby powder "did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer". LATEST LAWSUITS OVER TALC J&J is separately facing tens of thousands of lawsuits in the U.S., where claimants allege they were diagnosed with cancer after using baby powder and other company talc products. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. It did the same in the United Kingdom in 2023. The company has sought to resolve the litigation through bankruptcy, a strategy that has been rejected three times by federal courts. Last week, J&J was ordered to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma, one of the largest awarded against the company that could be reduced on appeal. Damages awarded by courts in England are generally limited to compensation for losses caused by a defendant's actions, whereas $950 million of last week's award in the U.S. was for punitive damages. In England, courts can award so-called exemplary damages where, for example, a defendant has wilfully wronged a claimant, though sums are typically far smaller than in the U.S. KP Law said it had estimated the value of the lawsuit at around 1 billion pounds ($1.34 billion). Significantly, these lawsuits – like virtually all civil suits in England – will be determined by a judge, rather than a jury. Kenvue said in its statement that it believed a judge will conclude its talc-based baby powder does not cause cancer. ($1 = 0.7472 pounds) (Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)

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By Andrea Shalal and Karin Strohecker WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top U.S. and Chinese officials joined a meeting on Wednesday of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, where a key topic was the lack of transparency about commercial bank loans that have complicated developing countries' debt restructuring efforts. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and current G20 president South Africa issued a progress report after the meeting, calling for continued efforts to address elevated debt vulnerabilities, particularly in low-income countries. It said debt levels in low-income countries and emerging economies had generally stabilized, but remained higher than during the pre-COVID-19 era, with a few being particularly vulnerable. Many also faced elevated debt-service challenges, crowding out spending on education, health and infrastructure. "Recent shifts in global policies and cuts in foreign aid add to the challenges," the report said, underscoring the need for domestic reforms by debtor countries to boost growth, with specific attention to rising domestic debt vulnerabilities. Participants agreed to keep working to improve debt restructuring processes, including looking for ways to accelerate the restructuring of non-bonded commercial debt, accelerating support to countries with sustainable debt but high debt-service challenges, and strengthening transparency. IMF strategy chief Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said the continued participation of the U.S. and China in the roundtable, despite a fierce trade war dividing the world's two largest economies, showed their commitment to keep addressing the high debt levels hurting developing countries. The roundtable, which met during the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington, had led to progress in shortening the timelines of official debt restructurings and reworking bonded debt, but there was more work to do on non-bonded debt, Pazarbasioglu told reporters before the meeting. "These discussions have been important to get everyone on the same page," she said. "The fact that tomorrow we will have the U.S. Treasury Secretary (Scott Bessent) there, China will be there, and others will be there, is a sign that they are still committed to this discussion." CALL FOR TRANSPARENCY OVER DEBT The progress report showed that transparency was a shared concern, especially regarding non-bonded debt. "Non-bonded debt is the laggard at this point," Pazarbasioglu said, noting some countries had moved through a restructuring but still faced bank exposures or other loans that prevented credit ratings agencies from removing their default status and raising ratings. "This is a critical step to make sure that countries are able to access lower cost financing. So that's what we are really focusing on now," she said. A recent IMF paper detailed the challenges faced by such countries – including Ghana, Sri Lanka, Zambia and Suriname. The report cited broad support for earlier and more comprehensive publication by official creditor committees of the key terms of restructurings – including the net present value reduction – once an agreement was reached, though full consensus had not yet been reached. Participants also broadly supported extending to all G20 creditors the World Bank's "Debt Data Sharing Exercise," which ensures the data of debtors and creditors are reconciled. Many of them expressed strong interest in the World Bank's proposal for a digital platform to automate loan data reconciliation, building on a pilot program launched with Indonesia, it said. Negotiators continue to work on a declaration on debt issues that the Group of 20 major economies, which launched the Common Framework for debt restructurings during the COVID-19 pandemic, hopes to issue on Thursday, participants said. GLOBAL DEBT AT RECORD LEVELS Global debt is at record levels, but many emerging markets have actually reduced their debt-to-GDP ratios, although they still face crushing debt service payments and have been crowded out of the capital market by advanced economies. Liquidity is a bigger concern now than solvency, Pazarbasioglu said. Debt experts say high borrowing costs on international capital markets have effectively shut out many riskier borrowers, pushing governments to opt for loans where terms and conditions are rarely published. Jose Vinals, former group chairman of Standard Chartered, one of the two private-sector creditors together with BlackRock that are part of the global sovereign debt roundtable, said more transparency was clearly needed. "This is something that complicates enormously the restructuring processes and I think one of the things where progress needs to be made," he said during an event hosted by the Bretton Woods Committee late on Tuesday. Loans lack mechanisms such as collective action clauses often written into bonds that help to streamline sovereign debt restructurings by allowing a majority of bondholders to bind the minority to a new deal and prevent "holdout" creditors. He also pointed to working groups such as the London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt, launched in June by the British government to help make contracts clearer and more transparent, as improving the way loan terms address natural disasters, and addressing problems with group lending practices. Almost all international bond and loan contracts across emerging markets use England and New York as jurisdictions. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Karin Strohecker; Editing by Frances Kerry and Paul Simao)

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