Investment goal half met
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said yesterday that the government secured 509 major investment projects in the first half of the year, with a combine total value of NT$398.3 billion (US$11.54 billion), or 54.89 percent of the year's goal.
Lin made the remarks at a ministry meeting about investment projects and preparations for the 2003 Taiwan Business Alliance Conference scheduled for Oct. 19 to Oct. 22.
Biotech industry investments account for the lion's share of the new project, 34 percent. The software-design sector accounts for 25 percent, the chip-design sector for 20 percent and digital-content sector for 15 percent. The projects come from both domestic and foreign investors.
Lin said the ministry will continue soliciting new investment and help manufacturers clear investment hurdles. The ministry hopes to attract major investment projects worth NT$724.5 billion (US$21 billion) this year, he said.
Computex bites into CeBIT
The rescheduling of Computex, Asia's largest computer trade show, because of the SARS epidemic, has led to a drop in the number of Taiwanese exhibitors at CeBIT Asia in Shanghai, according to organizers of the Shanghai event.
Michael Hoppe, CeBIT project manager at Deutsche Messe AG told a press conference yesterday that only 65 Taiwanese exhibitors were taking part this year, compared to 161 last year.
Computex was rescheduled from June 2 to June 6 slot to Sept. 22 to Sept. 26. CeBIT Asia runs from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21.
While many Taiwanese exhibitors chose to attend Computex over CeBIT Asia because of staff shortages, some high-tech companies such as AOpen Inc, CMC Magnetics Corp (中環) and Ritek Corp (錸德) have decided to participate in both events, Hoppe said.
Hoppe said he is optimistic about the Shanghai show, saying it will attract up to 60,000 visitors and feature products from 400 exhibitors from more than 12 countries.
Wistron shipping Xbox consoles
Wistron Corp (緯創資通) will ship 1.6. million Xbox videogame consoles for Microsoft Corp in the second half, the DigiTimes Web site reported, without saying where it got the information.
Wistron is a manufacturing arm of Acer Inc.
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, last month cut the price of Xbox to US$179 in Asia excluding Japan to catch up with Sony Corp's PlayStation 2.
Microsoft has sold 9.4 million Xbox units since the product went on sale in November 2001. Sony has shipped more than 53 million PlayStation 2s since introducing the game machine in March 2000. In the three months ended June 30, Sony shipped 2.65 million PlayStation 2s, 42 percent fewer than the same quarter a year ago.
China sets car-import quotas
China has set next year's import quota for automobiles and car parts at US$10.49 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its Web site.
The new quota is 15 percent higher than the US$9.12 billion worth of cars and auto parts China plans to import this year, benefiting overseas automakers such as Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volvo AB.
China agreed to raise its imported car quota by 15 percent until 2005 when it will completely eliminate trade barriers for the auto industry as part of its WTO accession agreement.
NT dollar continues slide
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday continued losing ground against its US counterpart, falling NT$0.017 to close at NT$34.417 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$490 million.
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