■ Semiconductors
STMicro eyes China
STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's biggest chipmaker, may build a chip plant in China that would start production by 2005 to tap growing demand in Asia, the DigiTimes Web site reported, citing Chairman Pasquale Pistorio. The Geneva-based company would build or buy a plant that makes chips from 8-inch instead of 12-inch silicon wafers because China isn't ready for an investment in the latest technology, the report said, citing Pistorio. An investment in chipmaking in China would add to STMicroelectronics' existing chip-design and semiconductor assembly operations in the world's most populous nation, the report said.
■ Internet
NEC, seven others to link
NEC Corp's Biglobe, Fujitsu Ltd's Nifty Corp and six other Japanese Internet-service providers agreed to form an alliance to offer Internet-based phone services, the Mainichi newspaper reported. The companies, including Sony Corp's So-net and two Internet services operated by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, will let their customers call each other for free over the network to compete against a similar service offered by Softbank Corp's Yahoo BB high-speed Internet service, the report said, without citing anyone. The eight companies have separately begun their own services, the report said. They agreed yesterday to form a consortium and meet on a regular basis to build a communication system to respond to trouble including disruption of its voice service, the report said.
■ US economy
Consumer confidence fell
US consumer confidence fell this month to the lowest in more than a decade as heightened concern about an Iraq war and soaring energy bills threaten to slow spending and the economy. "The overhang of the war is clearly a damper on the economy," Treasury Secretary John Snow said after a speech in Columbus, Ohio. "When people are nervous they don't spend as much." The University of Michigan's index of sentiment fell to 75, the lowest since October 1992, when the economy had trouble creating jobs, from 79.9 in February. Confidence has declined every month this year and consumer demand is beginning to wane. The university's current conditions index, which reflects Americans' perception of their finances and whether it's a good time to make major purchases, fell to 87.1 from 95.4 in February. The latest reading also was the lowest since October 1992.
■ Breweries
Asahi goes to Beijing
Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's biggest brewer, will invest ?5 billion (US$42 million) to build a plant in Beijing to produce its best-selling Super Dry beer and other products sold under local brands, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Asahi's new plant, the sixth the company will operate in China through joint ventures, will begin operations next year, the paper said, without citing anyone. The plant will have annual production capacity of 100,000kl and make beer in bottles, cans and barrels, the report said. Asahi's output from Chinese plants totaled 510,000kl last year, the report said. Asahi expects operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold, to rise 5.3 percent to ?73 billion this year helped by increasing sales of low-malt products, the brewer said last month.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS