Business Briefs

■ New outlet for Breeze Center

Breeze Center (微風廣場) announced yesterday that its second outlet, next to the MRT Zhongxiao-Dunhua station, will be inaugurated today. The building, formerly known as the ATT shopping center, changed hands as the original leasing contract with the landlord, Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行), expired at the end of last month. Union Bank, which issues Breeze Center's co-brand credit cards, decided to expand cooperation with Breeze Center with aims to boost credit-card issuance from the current 1 million to 1.3 million, said store spokesman Jason Tsai (蔡明澤). It plans to keeps all the original tenants to cater to young people aged between 18 and 28. The new outlet is expected to rake in NT$600 million (US$19 million) in sales per year.

■ MOEA to help small firms

The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday launched a project aimed at helping small- and medium-sized businesses improve their digital capabilities to narrow the digital gap between industrial sectors. The project will be implemented in collaboration with local Internet firms and is scheduled to run from 2005 to 2008. It aims to help 100,000 small- and medium-sized businesses establish broadband networking and 150,000 others employ e-commerce, Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said during the launching ceremony in Kaohsiung. The project is expected to create business opportunities worth NT$7.3 billion (US$233.22 million) a year and will enhance the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized businesses, Ho said.

■ Foreign investment soars

Net foreign remittance to the stock market totaled US$3.361 billion last month, or the second-largest amount in a single month, next only to February's US$3.748 billion, according to the Securities and Futures Bureau. The commission said that since the government allowed foreigners to invest in the stock market in December 1990, net foreign remittance has reached US$91.034 billion. ■ BenQ targets Brazilian market

BenQ Corp (明基電通) plans to enter Brazil's portable computer market by the end of the year, Valor Economico reported. Electronic notebooks will be produced on the company's behalf in Manaus, Brazil, by Elgin SA, the newspaper cited Orlando Sodre, director of BenQ's Brazilian unit, as saying. BenQ also plans to enter the country's mobile telephone market and is studying the possibility of producing projectors and liquid crystal monitors in the country as well, the newspaper said.

■ Motherboard exports rise

Exports of desktop PC motherboards and computer cards made by companies in China and Taiwan are expected to total US$6.4 billion this year -- a 21 percent increase compared to last year, the media firm Global Sources said yesterday in a report. Taiwanese firms will continue to be the top suppliers of motherboards in the near- and mid-term, said Mark Saunderson, the report's publisher.

"But mainland China companies are significantly increasing their production capabilities," he said. Global Sources operates an online business-to-business market for import and export traders.

■ NT dollar slips

The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, losing NT$0.039 to close at NT$31.308 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$684 million, down from US$801 million on Wednesday.