■ Worm alert issued
Trend Micro Inc, an anti-virus software maker, declared a medium risk alert for WORM_MYTOB.EG, which spreads through e-mail and has infected computer systems at more than 100 enterprises in Taiwan as of yesterday, the company said. The worm affects all Microsoft Windows operating systems, including Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows XP. It has also damaged computer systems in Japan, said Terence Wang (王應達), Trend Micro Taiwan's technology director. The memory-resident worm propagates by sending a copy of itself as an attachment to e-mail messages with subjects like "Technical Support" or "Customer Service." When a user opens the attachment, the worm installs a backdoor system that allows a remote user to issue malicious commands to the affected machine. Moreover, it prevents users from accessing several antivirus and security Web sites by redirecting the connection to the local machine. Wang urged users to be cautious about opening e-mail attachments and update their anti-virus software. Those who have already been infected by the virus can download a removal tool from online security providers' Web sites, he said.
■ Lenovo may get go-ahead
The Ministry of Economic Affairs might approve Chinese personal computer (PC) manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd's (聯想集團) acquisition of IBM's PC business in Taiwan, Minister Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said on Monday. Ho said her ministry is contemplating a revision of current regulations to accommodate an expected increase in the number of multinational companies with funds from China entering Taiwan through acquisitions. The minister said that IBM's PC unit in Taiwan is an outlet rather than a manufacturer, and that there was no point in refusing to do business with it simply because its ownership has been transferred to a Chinese company. She added that IBM has the third-largest international purchase office in Taiwan.
■ Powerchip boosts spending
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) raised its capital expenditure by NT$10 billion (US$320 million) to NT$50 billion this year, a Chinese-language newspaper reported. Powerchip increased its spending because it expects manufacturing capacity utilization may increase in the third quarter, the newspaper said. Capacity at Powerchip's 12-inch silicon wafer plant may be raised to as much as 35,000 units a month from the current 20,000 to 25,000 units, the report said. Powerchip, the nation's largest memory-chip supplier, said in January that it will spend NT$39 billion on factory expansion this year, up from NT$29 billion in last year.
■ Micron, Hynix switch again
Micron Technology Inc overtook Hynix Semiconductor Inc of South Korea as the world's second-largest maker of computer memory chips during the first quarter, market researcher ISuppli Corp said, citing a preliminary tally. Micron's first-quarter sales of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) fell 2 percent from the fourth quarter to US$1.1 billion, while Hynix's DRAM revenue dropped 9 percent to US$1.08 billion, ISuppli said. Micron and Hynix have been switching industry rankings every quarter since last year, the market researcher said.
■ NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar traded higher against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.011 to close at NT$31.218 on the Taiwan foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$629 million.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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