■ TRADE
US in `banana war'
The US on Friday joined the "banana war" at the WTO, alleging the EU treats Latin American producers unfairly. US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the US requested a WTO panel to review "whether the European Union's banana import regime breaches the EU's WTO obligations" of more than a decade ago. The US claims the EU failed to implement WTO rulings in a 1996 action initiated by Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the US. Four-fifths of the bananas imported by the EU are grown in Latin America.
■ FOOD
China rejects US ban
China cannot accept the ban on four kinds of seafood imported from the mainland by the US and urged the matter be settled as soon as possible, Xinhua reported yesterday. The US Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it would not allow imports of Chinese farm-raised seafood unless suppliers could prove the shipments contained no harmful residue. There might be isolated cases of Chinese enterprises exporting products with quality problems, Xinhua quoted Li Changjiang (李長江), director of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, as saying. However, the ban of all exports of such products is "unacceptable," Li said.
■ ENERGY
Formosa plans new plant
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation's biggest diversified industrial company, plans to build a polysilicon plant in Taiwan to tap rising demand for solar energy. Formosa Plastics is in talks with Renewable Energy Corp ASA of Norway, MEMC Electronic Materials Inc of the US and Japan's Tokuyama Corp to develop technology to produce the material, Lee Chih-tsuen (李志村), a member of the group's executive committee, said on Friday. Renewable Energy, MEMC and Tokuyama produce polysilicon used to make semiconductors and solar cells.
■ FINANCE
Huijin folded into agency
Central Huijin Investment Co (中央匯金), the Chinese government's investment arm, will be folded into the new agency created to manage part of the nation's US$1.2 trillion in foreign reserves, a central bank official said. The new State Investment Co will assume the responsibilities of Beijing-based Central Huijin, which holds controlling stakes on behalf of the government in the nation's three-biggest state-owned banks, Wu Xiaoling (吳曉靈), deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said in Shanghai yesterday. The Ministry of Finance won approval from lawmakers yesterday to issue 1.55 trillion (US$200 billion) of bonds to buy a portion of China's foreign-exchange reserves and inject the funds into the State Investment Co.
■ COMPUTERS
SanDisk, Ritek suit settled
SanDisk Corp, the world's largest maker of flash-memory cards, and Ritek Corp (錸德) settled a patent dispute and agreed to license each other's technology. Terms of the settlement and agreement are confidential, Milpitas, California-based SanDisk said in a statement. SanDisk sued Taiwan-based Ritek and its distributors Memorex Products Inc and Pretec Electronics Corp in 2001, saying they infringed a patent for memory cells. Flash memory stores data whether a device is on or off and is used in digital cameras and MP3 players.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
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