■ COMPUTERS
Wistron to invest in Vietnam
Hsinchu-based Wistron Corp (緯創) plans to invest US$10 million to build a factory in Vietnam for expansion. Wistron's board approved the Vietnam investment via its offshore unit, VNCap, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Friday, without elaborating. Wistron's shipments could reach 19 million units this year, up from about 11 million to 12 million units last year and 9 million in 2006, the Chinese-language Commercial Times newspaper said yesterday, without citing a source. Wistron is the world's third-largest contract manufacturer of notebook computers behind Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦).
■ PETROLEUM
Caracas reroutes oil to China
Venezuela is rerouting oil to China that had previously been sent to a US refinery co-owned by its state oil company and Exxon Mobil Corp, Venezuela's oil minister said on Friday. Rafael Ramirez said Exxon has stopped ordering crude for a refinery in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette as legal wrangling between the Irving, Texas-based company and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) continues. PDVSA and Exxon are locked in a fierce legal battle over compensation for the nationalization of a jointly owned heavy oil project in Venezuela's Orinoco basin last year.
■ COMPUTERS
Neo, Intel launch mini laptop
Philippine PC manufacturer Neo and multinational computer processor maker Intel have jointly launched a new 16,999 peso (US$406) mini laptop, spokesmen said yesterday. The Neo Explore is a "ruggedized and shock-proof" laptop with a keyboard that will not be damaged by spillages of liquids, Neo spokeswoman Mariel Que said. It weighs 0.66kg and is the size of a schoolchild's lunchbox, but will have the memory capacity and usual features of a standard basic laptop. Though the Explore is primarily designed for primary school children here, it can also be used by first-time PC users for word-processing and Internet access, Intel Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Jaguar deal under review
The European Commission said on Friday it would rule on Tata Motors' takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford by the end of next month after the Indian company reported the deal to Europe's top antitrust watchdog. Tata said in the notification that the deal did not represent a "significant impediment to effective competition" because the companies' "combined market shares are small." Tata Motors said on Wednesday it was buying the two British luxury icons Jaguar and Land Rover from ailing US carmaker Ford for US$2.3 billion.
■ BANKING
BayernLB losses may mount
Losses at Bavarian regional bank BayernLB stemming from the collapse of the US market for high-risk mortgages may be far higher than forecast, the state's premier said on Friday. Bavarian leader Guenther Beckstein told the daily Nordbayerischer Kurier in an interview yesterday that the writedowns could reach 4 billion euros (US$6.3 billion). Last month the bank estimated that losses could reach 1.9 billion euros. A BayernLB spokesman declined to comment ahead of the bank's annual press conference on Thursday. The heavy losses prompted chief executive Werner Schmidt to resign last month.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
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