Business Briefs

■ Sanyang to invest in Vietnam
Sanyang Industry Co (三陽工業), a Taiwanese motorbike and auto manufacturer, said yesterday it will invest US$70 million in Vietnam for commercial vehicle production.
"The US$70 million is the preliminary plan. It is possible we will pour more funds to Vietnam, encouraged by the country's growing economy after its entry into the World Trade Organization," a company spokesman said.
Sanyang scheduled to start construction of the plant facilities this year, the spokesman said, but added other details are not immediately available.
Currently, Sanyang operates two plants in southern Vietnam making motorbikes and engines.
The facilities roll out 300,000 motorbikes a year with most of them being sold locally.
Apart Vietnam, Sanyang also invests in China and Indonesia making motorbikes and components.

■ Mobile phone TV trials to begin
Qualcomm Inc, the world's second-largest maker of mobile-phone chips, and Taiwanese cable television provider China Network Systems Co (中嘉網路) said they will begin mobile TV trials this month.
The companies, along with TV operator Taiwan Television Enterprises Ltd (台視), will conduct a technical trial of Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology using four live channels from China Network and as many as three live channels of Taiwan Television content, Qualcomm and China Network said in a press release yesterday.
AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, the two largest US wireless phone companies, will begin using the MediaFlo technology this year, helping boost Qualcomm's earnings. MediaFlo may increase the company's profit by five to ten cents per share this year, according to American Technology Research analyst Albert Lin.

■ Exchange reserves up 2 billion
Taiwan's exchange reserves totaled US$267.99 billion at the end of last month, up from US$265.97 billion at the end of January, the central bank said yesterday.
The increase in foreign exchange reserves last month could mainly be attributed to returns from foreign reserves management, it said.
The euro and other major currencies appreciated against the US dollar, and thus foreign exchange reserves denominated in these currencies were small in terms of the base currency -- the US dollar, the central bank added.

■ Taiwan-China trade sees boost
Bilateral between Taiwan and China last year rose to US$88.12 billion, up 15.4 percent from the level found two years ago in 2005 on strong demand from China, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
The figure accounted for 20.7 percent of Taiwan's total external trade last year, compared with 20.0 percent in 2005, it said, citing official statistics.
Last year, Taiwan registered a trade surplus with China of US$38.54 billion, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Exports China last year rose 12.5 percent year-on-year to US$63.33 billion, and imports from there were up 23.3 percent at US$24.79 billion.
Shipments China last year accounted for 28.3 percent of Taiwan's total exports, compared with 28.4 percent a year earlier, it said.

■ NT dollar weaker
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, decreasing NT$0.036 to close at NT$32.899.
A total of US$1.15 billion changed hands during the day's trading.