■ Semiconductors
UMC chief optimistic
United Microelectronics Corp chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠) said he is optimistic about semiconductor demand for at least two more years as his company rebounds from a three-year slump, the Commercial Times reported. Hsinchu-based United Microelect-ronics is the world's second-largest supplier of made-to-order semiconductors. The company will expand production of 12-inch silicon wafers, the paper cited Tsao as saying. These dinner-plate sized wafers yield more than double the number of chips made from standard eight-inch disks and help cut production costs by as much as a third.
■ LCD displays
Taiwan to get more orders
Hitachi Ltd and Fujitsu Ltd subsidiaries will buy more large liquid crystal displays from Taiwanese manufacturers to cut costs and meet rising demand for their use in flat-panel televisions and personal computers, Nikkei English News reported citing company officials who were not named. Hitachi Displays Ltd and Fujitsu Display Technologies Corp are using the Taiwanese companies because Japanese companies don't have the money needed to invest in a large-LCD factory, according to the report. Hitachi Displays will buy 28-inch LCDs from HannStar Display Corp starting next year, the report said. Fujitsu Display will increase purchases of 22-inch LCDs from Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp later this year and will begin buying 30-inch displays from AU Optronics Corp, it said.
■ Singapore
Lee upbeat on prospects
Singapore's economy is improving and unemployment rate is expected to fall, Channel NewsAsia reported, citing Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. "The most recent signs have been positive, our trade has been good," Channel NewsAsia quoted Lee as saying on its Web site. "I am optimistic that things will gradually improve. I don't know how quickly but I think employment will go up." Lee's comments came after a report on Friday, based on preliminary estimates, showed the island's jobless rate rose to a record in the third quarter.
■ Communications
Softbank in service link-up
Softbank Corp will connect its Internet phone service in Japan with those of four mobile-phone operators from January, the Kyodo English News said, citing unidentified people in the industry. Softbank is Japan's second-largest provider of high-speed Web access. It will link its BB Phone service to NTT DoCoMo Inc, KDDI Corp, Vodafone K.K., and the Tu-ka group, the report said. The link will allow BB Phone users to call mobile phones from a regular landline phone without having to go through a foreign telecommunications carrier, the report said.
■ Reconstruction
Japanese get Iraq contracts
Sumitomo Corp and NEC Corp received a US$650,000 order to supply mobile-phone equipment to Iraq, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. The Japanese companies will supply equipment to connect mobile-phone stations in a network that Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE will build in central Iraq, including Baghdad, the report said, citing Naguib Sawiris, chairman and chief executive officer of Orascom. Sumitomo is Japan's fourth-largest trading company by sales and NEC is the nation's biggest cell-phone maker.
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
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft