■ MacroeconomicsChina will meet GDP goal
China's economic growth will meet the 7 percent target set by government even as the SARS epidemic curbed consumption and production, China's Central Television (CCTV) reported, citing Yao Jingyuan, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing. China's GDP will have no problem meeting the target and is expected to surpass 7 percent because of strong export and fixed asset investment growth, Yao said in an interview with CCTV. China's exports unexpectedly surged 37 percent from a year earlier in May, the fastest pace in four months. "The continuous weakness of the US dollar boosted the competitiveness of Chinese-made goods in international market," said CCTV, citing Yao. In the first quarter, China's GDP rose 9.9 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace in seven years.
■ Electronics
Nanya plans share sale
Nanya Technology Corp, the world's fifth-largest maker of computer-memory chips, said it plans to raise at least US$347 million in an overseas share sale by the end of next month on expectations its products will become profitable. The Taipei-based company may sell 400 million shares on the Luxembourg stock market for a price equivalent to NT$30 each. The target price represents a 23 percent premium to today's closing price of NT$24.40 a share. UBS AG will manage the sale. Nanya, which is building a plant in Taiwan with Germany's Infineon Technologies AG, and local rivals are reviving fund-raising plans because the memory-chip market is rebounding from a more than a two-year slump.
■ Labor
Strippers form co-op
A group of San Francisco strippers who earlier this year went on strike for better pay, have now achieved another dream of the working classes. The workers bought out the owners of the Lusty Lady Theatre and turned it into a worker-owned cooperative, according to news reports Friday. "We're seizing the means of production," said stripper Donna Delinqua, as she cut a huge garter belt in the official opening ceremony of the peep-show theater, where patrons occupy individual booths and drop in quarters to see the women dance. The workers bought the nude-dancing venue from the previous owners, who complained that the wage and benefit agreement reached following the strike had made the club too expensive to run. The new owners refuse to disclose the purchase price but say that about 45 of the 60 dancers and 10 support staff have each paid 300 dollars into the co-op, which entitles them to a share of the profits at year's end.
■ Electronics
Macronix plans turn-around
Macronix International Co, Taiwan's biggest maker of memory chips for electronic games, said it expects to become profitable next year after cutting investment. The Hsinchu, Taiwan-based company, which forecast a loss of NT$7.8 billion (US$225 million) this year, reduced its spending more than three-quarters to NT$2 billion, spokesman Patrick Tang said. Product prices at Macronix, which had six straight quarterly losses, fell an average 85 percent between 2000 and last year because of competition. Last year, Macronix faced investigation by authorities on charges of trading shares on the basis of information unavailable to the public. There wasn't any wrongdoing on part of Macro-nix and the company hasn't received any notice of illegal activity from stock exchange authorities, chairman Hu Ding-hua told shareholders at the company's annual meeting today.
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