■ 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.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
HELPING HAND: Approving the sale of H20s could give China the edge it needs to capture market share and become the global standard, a US representative said The US President Donald Trump administration’s decision allowing Nvidia Corp to resume shipments of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China risks bolstering Beijing’s military capabilities and expanding its capacity to compete with the US, the head of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said. “The H20, which is a cost-effective and powerful AI inference chip, far surpasses China’s indigenous capability and would therefore provide a substantial increase to China’s AI development,” committee chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said on Friday in a letter to US Secretary of
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
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