■ Wyse to expand in Asia
California-based Wyse Technology Inc wants its Asia-Pacific and Japan operations to contribute 30 percent to gross global revenues over the next two years, a published report said yesterday. The region currently accounts for 12 percent. Wyse is setting up its Southeast Asia regional headquarters in Singapore next month, The Business Times reported. "We now have about half of our 350 employees in Asia, as compared to about 20 percent previously," San-Jose-based president John Kish was quoted as saying. "The reason for this is to have engineers closer to the market for rapid turnaround and customization." Wyse is aiming to increase global revenues from US$200 million to US$1 billion in the next five years.
■ Internet
Yahoo, BlackBerry in deal
Yahoo Inc, the second-most used Internet search engine, signed an agreement to distribute the company's instant messenger software with the BlackBerry e-mail pager made by Research In Motion Ltd. Yahoo's instant messaging software will be distributed with the BlackBerry in the next two months, said Doug Garland, senior vice president of Yahoo mobile. Yahoo's agreement with Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion is for "multiple years," he said. Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed. The agreement is Yahoo's first with a mobile device manufacturer and illustrates the growing links between the Web and mobile devices. "People are increasingly living on their mobile devices," said Garland. "We believe there's a lot of room for growth," in mobile services. Yahoo and Research In Motion plan to release a version of Yahoo's e-mail service for the BlackBerry in the future, Garland said.
■ Entertainment
Casino project planned
US casino operator Las Vegas Sands will team up with Hong Kong's Regal Hotels International on a hotel-casino project in the booming southern Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, the Hong Kong company said yesterday. The first phase of the project in Macau's Cotai area will offer at least 1,500 rooms, a casino and a showroom for large performances, Regal Hotels said in a statement posted on the Web site of Hong Kong's stock exchange. The statement said Regal Hotels International Ltd will build the complex and Las Vegas Sands Inc will lease and run the casino and showroom. It said construction of the hotel-casino's initial phase is scheduled for completion by late 2007. The hotel and casino portions of the project will be expanded later, it said.
■ Aviation
Lufthansa talks with Swiss
German carrier Lufthansa announced it was negotiating with Swiss International Air Lines about a possible takeover of the money-losing carrier. In a statement on Sunday, Lufthansa described the talks as "constructive" and said the two companies had come up with a business plan to integrate Swiss into its operations. It said "pillars" of any deal would be keeping Switzerland's air connections and the Swiss brand. "The business plan that has been developed by the two companies must still be approved by the Lufthansa board of directors, the board of Swiss and Swiss shareholders," the statement said. Should the plan meet with board approval, Lufthansa said it would make an offer to buy out smaller investors based on Swiss stock's average price in recent weeks.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last