■ Ecnomics
Local demand to drive growth
The economy will expand 4.01 percent next year and 4.36 percent in 2007, with growth momentum led by domestic demand, according to the Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research. The privately run institute estimates Taiwan's economy will probably expand 3.65 percent this year. Next year, the economy is expected to grow 4.34 percent in the first quarter, 4.18 percent in the second, 4.01 percent in the third and 3.55 percent in the fourth, the institute said. The government's statistics bureau on Nov. 17 raised its economic growth forecast for this year to 3.8 percent, from 3.65 percent, and that for next year to 4.1 percent from 4 percent.
■ Automakers
Mazda pays workers to walk
Japan's fourth-largest automaker, Mazda Motor Corp, is recommending its employees walk to the office, rather than commute by car, as part of an effort to improve their health and protect the environment, a company spokesman said on Friday. Those meeting a set of requirements by going to the office on foot are eligible to receive ¥1,500 (US$12) a month, Mazda spokesman Ken Haruki said. Mazda is the first Japanese automaker to encourage its employees to walk and offer an incentive of money, he said. The company's 20,000 workers at domestic plants are all eligible. The company has no plans to include those working outside Japan, Haruki said. He said the allowance will be given to any Mazda employees who live more than 2km from the office and walk more than 4km in round trips at least 15 days a month. Employees can get off a train or bus on their way to the office and take a walk over the distance to meet the requirements, Haruki said. Yamaha Motor Co introduced a similar eco-walk commutation system for its employees a year ago.
■ Mobile phones
China to launch 3G soon
China will implement high-speed, third-generation (3G) cellphone services in the first half of next year, the state-run China Daily reported, citing Wang Bingke, deputy director general of the reform and operation department of the Ministry of the Information Industry. This is the first time that China has specified a timetable for the launch of the technology, the report said. Wang made the remarks at the China Information Technology & Economic Conference 2005 in Beijing of Friday. China has promised to offer 3G services and digital TV broadcasting for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, so it is the right time to push for the large-scale deployment, the report cited Wang as saying.
■ Electronics
Intel plans Indian investment
Intel Corp may announce plans tomorrow to invest US$500 million in India, the Business Standard reported, without saying where it got the information. Intel chairman Craig Barrett may make the announcement during a visit to New Delhi, the newspaper said. Half the investment will be spent on Intel's research laboratory in India and the rest will be used to set up a factory for low-cost personal computers, the paper reported. The PC will be priced at 11,000 rupees (US$240), making it the cheapest PC with an Intel chip, the Standard said. The computer is being designed to be sold in the rural regions of India, where three-fifths of the country's 1.1 billion people live, the paper said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by