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World Business Quick Take

■Electronics
China is Samsung's new HQ
South Korean microchip giant Samsung Electronics said yesterday it will make China the main base for production of personal computers and screens so as to reduce costs. Samsung, the world's largest microchip maker, said it was moving production of PCs and TFT-LCD flat screens to China to compete with foreign rivals. "China will become our main PC production base by 2005," a Samsung spokesman said, adding the company would keep core semiconductor lines and research centers at home. He said the relocation of PC operations was prompted by rising costs locally. Samsung's PC business accounts for a fifth of total sales. Last year Samsung launched a TFT-LCD (liquid crystal display) factory in China's eastern city of Suzhou with an initial investment of US$537.9 million and has promised to invest more money in the plant.

■ Banking
Citigroup plan approved
A plan for Citigroup Inc to buy a minority stake in Shanghai Pudong Develop-ment Bank Co has received Chinese government approval, the Shanghai bank said yesterday in a legal announcement. The 556 million yuan (US$67.8 million) deal, initially announced last year, was approved by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission under the State Council, Shanghai Pudong Develop-ment Bank said in an announcement posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Web site. With the purchase, New York-based Citigroup will own a 4.62 percent stake, or 180.75 million shares, in the mid-sized Chinese bank, making it the fourth largest share-holder.

■ Media
NYC newspapers at war
The price war among New York's newspapers will hit a new low on Wednesday, when nearly a million copies of The New York Post will be distributed without charge as part of a promo-tion for America Online. AOL is paying The Post an undisclosed fee for the free distribution. It is part of the company's sponsorship of a free concert by the Dave Matthews Band in Central Park that night to benefit New York City public schools and its promotion of the latest version of AOL software. Geoff Booth, vice president and general manager of The Post, said that America Online, a division of AOL Time Warner, had agreed to take out 14 pages of ads in that day's newspaper. The press run that day will be raised to nearly a million news-papers, from about 820,000.

■ Currencies
Shiokawa defends weak yen
Japan's finance minister yesterday defended official efforts to weaken the yen through a dollar-buying campaign that has reportedly topped a record Japanese Yen 10 trillion (US$86.7 billion) this year. Speaking a day after the dollar dove to two-and-a-half year lows against the yen, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa called recent market movements "excessive" and warned that a further strengthening of the Japanese currency could deal a serious blow to his nation's export-dependent economy. According to ministry data, Japan had spent Japanese Yen 9.02 trillion (US$78.2 billion) buying dollars through last month in a yen-weakening effort. The full-year bill is expected to top Japanese Yen 10 trillion (US$86.7 billion) for the first time as market sources estimate the government has spent around Japanese Yen 2 trillion (US$17.3 billion) buying dollars this month, the Asahi Shimbun reported Thursday.

Agencies
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