Business Briefs

■ ProMOS plant to cost billions
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德), the nation's second-largest computer memory-chip maker, is planning to spend US$3.2 billion over the next five years to build a new chip plant, Dow Jones reported yesterday, citing company spokesman Albert Lin (林育中). The company may build its first 12-inch-wafer DRAM (dynamic random access memory) plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) in Taichung, Yang Wen-ke (楊文科), deputy director general of the park's administration, told the Taipei Times earlier this month. The ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled to take place on April 8, and US$1.6 billion will be spent in the first three years, the Dow Jones report quoted Lin as saying, adding that the company has no plan to have partners for the new fab. ProMOS more than doubled its proposed capital spending this year to US$560 million.

■ Canada lowest-cost nation in G7
Canada ranked the lowest-cost country in the G7 countries in terms of business operation, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT) said yesterday, citing a cost study by KPMG. Canada's cost advantage is most significant for industries involved in research and development, which is important for Taiwan as it expands its knowledge-based economy, the office said in a statement. "Business ties between Canada and Taiwan continue to grow," said CTOT Executive Director Ted Lipman. "This is especially true in sectors where Canada's R&D strengths are seen to complement Taiwan's commercialization capabilities." KPMG's 60-page report presents an analysis of business costs in 121 international cities located in 11 industrialized countries: all the G7 countries plus Australia, Iceland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The report compares after-tax costs of starting and operating a business for a period of 10 years. The 10-month international study of leading industrial countries showed that Canada has a 9 percent cost advantage over its southern neighbor, the US. Aided by the strength of the euro, Canada's cost advantage over the UK and continental European countries has also increased.

■ Plastics and rubber show opens
The 2004 Taipei International Plastics and Rubber Industry Show opened yesterday at the Taiwan World Trade Center Exhibition Hall. A total of 344 companies from around the world are showing their products at 1,818 booths during the four-day event, according to the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, which is jointly sponsoring the fair with the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry. Well-known world-class companies, such as Toshiba, Matsui and Shi Plastics from Japan and those from the France, Italy, the US and South Korea, are also participating in the show.

■ First Financial issues forecast
First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), Taiwan's third-biggest financial services provider, forecast net income of NT$10.03 billion (US$300.9 million) for this year, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. First Financial has yet to announce its audited net income figure for last year. Its commercial banking arm, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), sold NT$4.28 billion of bonds backed by residential mortgages to domestic investors on March 1 in a private sale.

■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday strengthened against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.065 to close at NT$33.228 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$759 million.