Business Briefs

Interest rates unchanged

Taiwan's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low after this afternoon's quarterly policy meeting. The Central Bank of China is keeping its key rediscount rate at 1.625 percent, the bank said in a statement. The bank has cut the rate 14 times since December 2000, most recently on Nov. 11. Meanwhile, the Central Bank announced it would suspend open-market operations yesterday, without giving any explanation for the suspension. Matured deposit receipts totaled NT$450 million yesterday and outstanding deposit receipts exceeded NT$2 trillion. Currency dealers said the suspension of CBC open market operations might be related to the onset of a US-led war in Iraq. The CBC has made maintaining stability of the NT dollar's exchange rate one of its priority goals at the moment.

Quanta to invest in Taiwan

Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's biggest supplier of notebook computers, plans to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$2.9 billion) in Taiwan on expectations its business will grow, the Commercial Times reported. The company is looking for land close to its existing factories, located an hour south of Taipei, to build facilities for research and development of computer parts, the report said, citing company chairman Barry Lam (林百里). The report did not give a timetable for the plans. Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子), a flat-panel display venture between Quanta Computer and Japan's Sharp Corp, plans to start building a NT$300 million factory soon, the report said. In the first two months this year, Quanta Computer's sales rose by 72 percent to NT$34.7 billion from a year ago. Quanta Computer's sales growth exceeded that of smaller rivals Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) and Inventec Co (英業達) Compal's sales rose by 29 percent and Inventec's by 40 percent in the same period.

Acer Inc (宏電), Taiwan's biggest desktop-computer maker, plans to rival Dell Computer Corp, the world's No. 2 personal-computer maker, in China in three years, the Commercial Times said, citing Acer President Wang Chen-tang (王振堂). China's personal-computer market, which last year became the world's second largest after growing at a rate that exceeded most other nations, should be the target for computer suppliers, the report cited Wang as saying. Acer will expand a network of 18 distribution centers in China in competition with Dell, which takes orders via the Internet and by telephone, the report said. In China, a nation of 1.3 billion people, Dell had 5 percent of the market in the second half, according to market researcher International Data Corp. That compares with 27 percent for Legend Group Ltd., the biggest Chinese computer maker.

Macronix factory use to stabilize

Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), Taiwan's largest maker of memory chips for electronic games, said its factory use would be stable in the first quarter. "This quarter's utilization level will be similar to the last quarter," chief financial officer Paul Yeh said at a technology conference organized by Merrill Lynch & Co in Taipei. The company said earlier that its fourth-quarter utilization rate fell to 57 percent from 70 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001. Prices and demand for the company's products still haven't rebounded, Yeh said. Macronix shares rose 0.5 percent to NT$9.50.