Japan's grounded jet dreams and Apple in India

Hello everyone, this is Akito from Singapore.

I boarded a Boeing 787 jetliner last month on my trip back to Singapore from Tokyo. Also known as the Dreamliner, it is an eye-catching aircraft with a beautiful main wing characterized by a unique wingtip design.

About 13 years ago, I visited an airport in Everett, near Seattle, to cover the first test flight of the 787. The maiden flight of the jetplane, which I would board many times in the future, was a success. Afterward, I visited the sprawling factory where it was made and learned about the manufacturing process.

The 787 has deep ties to Japanese technology. Toray Industries' lightweight carbon fiber composite material is used for many of the aircraft's components. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Subaru are also 787 suppliers, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is in charge of producing the distinctive main wing. Made in Japan, these massive wings are transported to Boeing's factory on a custom cargo plane with a wildly enlarged body.

You might be wondering why the 787 is on my mind, rather than, say, the iconic 747, which recently ceased production after more than 50 years, but the reasons go beyond my personal travels.

Grounded dreams

The 787 wings produced by Mitsubishi Heavy have carried millions of air travelers around the globe, but unfortunately the company's long-held dream of commercializing a domestic jetliner has collapsed.

Mitsubishi Heavy's withdrawal from the domestic jetliner business, a scoop first reported by Nikkei staff writers, comes after a decade and half of frustrated efforts. The company decided to commercialize the jet in 2008, but the endeavor turned into a nightmare. Delivery dates were postponed six times and the development cost, initially estimated at 150 billion yen, ballooned to 1 trillion yen over the course of the project.

The development of the aircraft was seen as a major project led by a private company that would, if successful, foster Japan's aircraft industry. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry provided 50 billion yen to support the project. But the attempt to develop the first made-in-Japan passenger aircraft since the YS-11, a twin-engine turboprop that took to the skies in 1962, proved more difficult than making wings for an established leader.

A day without Son

For the first time in decades, Masayoshi Son did not appear for his legendary investor presentation as SoftBank revealed that its Vision Funds suffered a quarterly investment loss of $5.5 billion, write the Financial Times' Kana Inagaki and Robert Smith.

With the technology conglomerate's bullish founder offstage, its finance chiefs repeated that its balance sheet and investment portfolio were "safe" and "resilient" to placate investors concerned by the group's borrowing costs as interest rates rise.

"There remains significant unpredictability in the labor markets, future monetary policy road maps, as well as corporate earnings," Navneet Govil, executive managing partner at SoftBank Global Advisers and finance chief of the signature Vision Funds, said in an interview. "So our posture remains defensive and is focused on building resilience."

Investors were not convinced, with shares in SoftBank falling 5% on Wednesday. To address the headwinds, the group effectively halted its spending -- its Vision Funds invested just $300 million in two companies, compared to $9.6 billion during the same quarter in 2021.

Expanding into uncertainty

The race to produce electric vehicles is fueling the race to make the batteries that power them -- and that, in turn, has sent demand for materials like lithium and nickel soaring.

But miners and metal processors are rushing to expand production of these metals at a time when prices are starting to wobble, writes Nikkei Asia's Rurika Imahashi. Lithium and nickel are both down from their historic highs of last year, reflecting the softening demand for EVs.

With tens of thousands of tons of new capacity expected to come on line in the coming months, concerns are rising that supply shortages of key materials could give way to a glut.

Apple's India excitement

Apple is making India a "major focus" for both production and revenue growth as souring China-U.S. relations and pandemic-related supply chain disruptions cause major headaches for global companies, writes Nikkei Asia's Yifan Yu.

"India is a hugely exciting market for us and is a major focus," Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the company's earnings call last week. The company logged a record for iPhone sales in India in the quarter and is preparing to open its first flagship retail store in the world's second-largest smartphone market as soon as this quarter.

The company announced in October that it had started producing the iPhone 14 in India, only a few weeks after the release of the latest flagship phone. The Indian trade minister said late last month that Apple wants India to account for up to 25% of its production, from about 5% to 7% now.

In good news for China, meanwhile, Cook reassured investors that the COVID-related disruptions that hit the world's biggest iPhone production base, in Zhengzhou, had been resolved. "We're now at a point where production is what we need it to be, and so the problem is behind us," the CEO said.