■ Quanta expanding operations
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest contract notebook computer maker, will invest US$27.80 million to expand its Shanghai operations, a company spokeswoman said yesterday. Quanta will assign US$18.3 million to raise the paid-in capital of its wholly owned subsidiary Tech-Yeh (Shanghai) Computer Co (上海達業電腦) and use the remaining US$9.5 million to build a warehousing company, the spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said that the warehousing company is scheduled to begin operations in the second half of this year. Quanta has already invested US$124.82 million in China. Tech-Yeh, currently capitalized at US$35 million, produces notebook computers, computer peripheral products and cell phone sets. Quanta has shifted all of its production lines to China while keeping its research and development staff in Taiwan.
■ Chi Mei signs patent agreement
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan's second-biggest maker of flat-panel displays used in computers and televisions, said it has signed a patent agreement with Thomson Licensing Inc on LCD monitors. The agreement licenses all of Thomson's LCD monitor-related patents to the Taiwanese company, according to the statement. Thomson Licensing is the licensing arm of Thomson group, which had earlier acquired US company RCA and the consumer electronics business of General Electric Corp. Chi Mei said in the statement the patent licenses are aimed at its business expansion, technology enhancement and serving customer interests. The new licenses were secured in addition to other licenses and cross-licenses that Chi Mei signed with Fujitsu, Honeywell, Hitachi, Guardian, and Sharp Corp for LCD technologies, the statement said.
■ Prospects good for new rice
The chances of a new variety of rice from Taiwan making inroads into the Japanese market are good, the Agricultural Research Institute under the Council of Agriculture said yesterday. Institute officials were referring to Yih Chuan Aromatic Rice, a variety named after Kuo Yih-chuan (郭益全), the head of the Rice Research Lab under the institute which has helped develop the rice. The officials noted that Japan produces 7.8 million tonnes of rice every year but annual consumption is 8.72 million tonnes, so nearly 1 million tons needs to be imported. To learn about the preferences of Japanese consumers, the institute introduced the rice during the Aichi Expo between March 25 and Sept. 25 last year, receiving a favorable response.
■ Orchid exports set to bloom
Orchid growers as well as other businesses in the orchid industry are expected to win export orders with a combined value of over NT$1 billion (US$30.8 million) during an upcoming international orchid show to be held in Tainan County, officials said yesterday. The 2006 Taiwan International Orchid Show is slated to take place at the Taiwan Orchid Plantation, from this Saturday to March 12. Some 300,000 orchids will be on display, according to the Tainan County Government, organizer of the event. Given that over 400 foreign buyers have registered to visit the fair, organizers said companies are expected to send more than 1,000 representatives to the event to seek trade deals.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar gained against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.037 to close at NT$32.455.
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