■ Semiconductors
Chip sales rise 10.4 percent
Global semiconductor sales rose 10.4 percent in the second quarter from the year-earlier period as personal-computer sales rose 8 percent, the Semiconductor Industry Association said. Chip sales rose to US$37.6 billion in the three months through June from US$34.1 billion in the same quarter last year, industry trade group said in a Business Wire statement. From the first quarter, when sales were US$36.4 billion, the gain was 3.2 percent. Sales of chips used in personal computers, DVD players and other electronics, which have fallen or stagnated for two years, will increase 10 percent this year to US$154.9 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association has said. The San Jose, California-based group in April cut its annual growth estimate from 15 percent.
■ Banking
Deutsche wins China deal
Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank has won regulatory approval to trade in China's US$500 billion securities markets, it was announced Monday. Deutsche is the sixth foreign institution to be granted access by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the regulatory body reported on its website. Switzerland's UBS, Japan's Nomura Holdings and the US Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs were the first five groups granted access under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) scheme earlier this year. Rules governing QFIIs were published late last year and in March this year China appointed a number of custodian banks authorized with opening accounts for them. Foreign institutions can invest in all of the more than 1,200 A-share listed companies in China and are no longer restricted to the paltry B-share market which was been open to them for more than a decade.
■ Electronics
Toshiba sorts Swedish mail
Toshiba Corp, whose shares last week had their biggest two-day drop since October 1987, said it won a contract to sell mail-sorting equipment to Sweden's postal service. The contract, signed last month, is worth about 100 million Swedish kronor (US$12.2 million), Toshiba said in a faxed release. The Tokyo-based company will start installing eight mail-sorting units in June next year. The equipment scans mail and recognizes handwritten or printed addresses, prints barcodes onto envelopes and uses the information in the barcode to sort mail by destination, Toshiba said. Each unit can handle up to 36,000 items of mail an hour. Toshiba said last week its first-quarter loss almost doubled after rising competition forced price cuts for its computers and televisions.
■ Banking
HSBC beats expectations
Global banking giant HSBC Holdings said yesterday that first half earnings rose 26 percent from a year earlier, beating expectations by a wide margin on the back of maiden contributions from its US$14.2 billion Household International acquisition in the US. HSBC said profit before tax and goodwill came in at US$6.88 billion, up from the year earlier US$5.46 billion and compared with forecasts of US$4.6 billion to US$5.8 billion, supported by income of US$651 million from Household International, the consumer finance business acquired last year. HSBC said that while it is "cautious" over the longer-term outlook, the prospects for this year appear "reasonable" at this stage.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source