Handset production soars
Taiwan shipped out 10.52 million handsets in the first quarter this year, up 138 percent from a year earlier, on the back of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd's bid to boost its worldwide market share, the Market Intel-ligence Center (MIC, 市場情報中心) said yesterday.
Sony Ericsson, the world's No. 5 cellphone maker, saw its global market share fall from 6.7 percent in 2001 to 5.5 percent last year.
But the MIC remains cautious, saying that handset shipments by Taiwanese makers may drop 11 percent to 9.34 million units in the second quarter if firms don't boost research and development into more innovative handsets, especially those with color screens, Java software and multimedia messaging services.
Bail-out expected to sting
The bail-out of the debt-ridden Chung Shing Commercial Bank (中興銀行) is expected to cost government coffers nearly NT$100 billion, Gary Tseng (曾國烈), director general of the Bureau of Monetary Affairs, said yesterday at the legislature.
Tseng told lawmakers that Chung Shing has a liability of NT$140 billion, with approximately NT$90 billion of which being in impaired assets. Against this backdrop, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday urged lawmakers to approve the ministry's proposal to increase the Financial Restructuring Fund (金融重建基金) to NT$908 billion. He said that, with a little over NT$40 billion left after delivering a series of rescue packages to ailing grassroots credit cooperatives, the fund is unable to deal with Chung Shing and other ailing banks.
Congressman seeks trade deal
A US congressman has come up with a concurrent resolution demanding that the US President George W. Bush administration negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan, the US State Department reported in a press statement released on Wednesday.
According to the press release, Republican Jim Ramstad presented the resolution on March 18 for screening by relevant committees of the House of Representatives, with 29 other House members having endorsed the resolution as of April 14.
The resolution notes that Taiwan is America's eighth largest trading partner and that it was formally admitted to the World Trade Organization on Jan. 1 last year.
Chungwa shares go on sale
Taiwan will offer 1.33 billion shares in the nation's largest telecommunication operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) in the fourth quarter, a local newspaper report yesterday, citing Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三).
The 13.5 percent stake includes 334.17 million shares left unsold from the ministry's latest offer of 500 million shares which ended on Wednesday, the paper said.
Infineon may renew old ties
Infineon Technologies AG, the world's fourth-largest maker of computer-memory chips, said it may renew a venture with ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), a local newspaper reported, citing Loh Kin Wah, president of the German company's Asia Pacific operations.
Infineon may not sell its remaining 25 percent stake in ProMOS, which it has reduced from 30 percent since January, Loh said. Infineon last year ended technology and purchasing agreements with the Taiwan company in a dispute over rights to ProMOS's output.
NT dollar remains strong
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday maintained its strength against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.019 to close at NT$34.778 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
RSS