■INTERNET
Firefox reaches a billion
Mozilla announced on Friday that it had passed 1 billion downloads of Firefox, its Web browser that has gained popularity as a free alternative to Microsoft’s ubiquitous Internet Explorer. Mozilla said the figure of 1 billion downloads was based on user-initiated downloads of Firefox, not automatic updates. It claims to have 300 million active users of its browser, which was launched in November 2004. According to research firm Net Applications, Internet Explorer has a 65 percent share of the Web browser market, followed by Firefox with around 22 percent, Apple’s Safari with around 8 percent and Google’s Chrome with around 2 percent.
■TELECOMS
Apple fixes iPhone problem
Apple Inc says it has fixed an iPhone vulnerability that lets hackers knock people offline — and possibly take over the phones — by sending them specially crafted text messages. Apple says it issued a software fix on Friday after the vulnerability was exposed this week at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. Similar weaknesses were found in phones running Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating systems. The Android problem has been fixed, and Microsoft is investigating the vulnerability reported in its software.
■TRANSPORTATION
Honda plans electric bike
Honda Motor Co plans to debut an electric two-wheeler in Japan next year. The motorcycle will be powered by a lithium-ion battery, and Honda will target sales to corporate customers, Tatsuhiro Ohyama, head of Honda’s motorcycle operations, told reporters yesterday at a test-drive event in Motegi. Meanwhile, Honda recalled about 440,000 vehicles in the US on Friday over an airbag defect. The company recalled some 2001-2002 models of Honda Accords, 2001 Civics and 2002-2003 Acura TLs. The announcement was an expanded recall from last November. Honda said there was a flaw that could cause the airbag to rupture when it inflates and spray metal fragments on the driver.
■AVIATION
THAI delays deliveries
Thai Airways International (THAI) has signed an agreement with aircraft manufacturer Airbus SAS to delay the delivery of six A380 superjumbos by two years, media reports said yesterday. “We fully understand the economic climate, current market situation, their [THAI’s] concerns and requirements, and we found an appropriate solution and came to an agreement,” Airbus executive vice president Kiran Rao told the Bangkok Post. Separately, European air safety regulators told world airlines on Friday they will have to replace hundreds of air speed sensors of the type that may have contributed to an Air France Airbus A330 crash in June.
■INVESTMENT
Banks come under fire
A group of mainland Chinese investors claim they lost HK$500 million (US$64 million) after being misled by Hong Kong banks, a media report said yesterday. The banks — HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank and ABN Amro Private Banking — were accused of selling high-risk equity accumulator investments as low-risk products, the South China Morning Post said. They also reported the banks’ activities to police. Equity accumulators offer shares at discounted prices but require investors to buy the same stock at the same price over a fixed period. The risk is that if the stock price goes down investors still have to buy the shares at the original price.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
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