■ 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.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2