Investment status grows
The Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) said in its latest issue of analyses and forecasts that Taiwan and Japan tie for the fourth-most attractive place for investment, behind Switzerland, Sing-apore and Holland.
The BERI business risk service provides qualitative analyses and forecasts for 50 countries three times per year.
The report said Taiwan's economy has weathered its worst storm in 20 years but is now recovering gradually. Trade between Taiwan and China will continue to grow if the two sides can increase peaceful exchanges, lower their military confrontation and pave the way for direct transportation links, the report said.
BERI said Taiwan's economic recovery might be slightly impaired by the war in Iraq, although it added that the economy will begin to grow significantly next year.
Quanta biggest notebook maker
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) is the world's largest maker of notebook computers, US-based technology research firm International Data Corp reported yesterday.
In the second half of this year, 22 percent of all notebooks sold were assembled by Quanta, the report said, putting it well in the lead of all custom-made notebook manufacturers. Quanta's customers include Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Computer Corp and International Business Machines Corp.
Three in four notebook computers worldwide are made by contract manufacturers such as Quanta. The top five contract manufacturers of notebooks are all Taiwanese. Quanta is followed by Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), Wistron Corp (緯創資通), Arima Computer Corp (華宇電腦), and Inventec Co (英業達).
Nissin buys stake in China unit
Nissin Food Products Co, which gave the world instant noodles, will pay Uni-President Enterprises Co (統一企業) US$4.4 million for a 10 percent stake in Uni-President's unit in Kunshan.
The China unit is one of Uni-President's 11 instant-noodle factories in China, said spokesman Simon Hung (洪士民).
Balinese airline eyes Taipei
Air Paradise, Indonesia's newest airline, will open thrice-weekly flights from Denpasar, Bali, to Taipei and Seoul starting on July 17, news reports said yesterday.
"Our airplane will arrive on July 17 and will directly serve the routes to Taipei and Seoul," Kadek Wiranata, owner of the Bali-based Air Paradise, told the state-run Antara news agency.
Air Paradise has been operating a thrice-weekly flight between Denpasar and the Australian cities of Perth, Melbourne and Sydney since Feb. 16. The airline has purchased an additional Airbus 300 to operate a new flight from Denpasar to Taipei and Seoul, despite fears that SARS has undermined tourism in the region.
"The SARS virus will hopefully die out by summer," Wiranata said.
Toyota calls employees home
Toyota Motor Corp, the world's third-largest automaker, advised its non-managerial staff based in Taiwan to return to Japan because of the spread of SARS.
There are 24 Japanese workers in Taiwan at operations such as Toyota's car manufacturing venture Kuozui Motors Ltd (國瑞汽車) and its dealership Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), said spokesman Shinya Matsumoto. The automaker recommended about 10 of them return home starting this week.
The Taiwanese operations will make the final decision as to whether the workers return home.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.03 to close at NT$34.691 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$353 million.
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