■ Semiconductors
Chipmakers face probe
US prosecutors are close to filing criminal price-fixing charges against computer chipmakers accused of colluding to exchange pricing and production plans, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a disclosed e-mail and testimony from unidentified industry executives. Samsung Electronics Co, Hynix Semiconductor Inc, Infineon Technologies AG and Micron Technology Inc are among companies that are being investigated by a federal grand jury in San Francisco for accusations of price conspiracy, the newspaper said. The US Federal Trade Commission, undertaking a separate case, has disclosed new evidence that supports the allegations and according to lawyers close to the case some of the chipmakers are considering making plea deals, the paper said.
■ Mobile Phones
Color screens are No. 1
Global sales of color screens for mobile phones will overtake monochrome displays this year, driven by the rising number of people who want to take photographs with their handsets, market researcher Isuppli Corp said. Global shipments of color liquid crystal displays geared for mobile phones will rise 52 percent to 393 million units this year, while monochrome screen sales will fall 26 percent to 264 million units, Isuppli said. Color phones screen sales will rise 26 percent next year to 495 million units, or almost double the number of monochrome units.
■ Statistics
Singapore's GDP up 1.1%
Singapore's economy grew 1.1 percent last year, faster than the preliminary estimate of 0.8 percent, the government said yesterday. The better-than-expected performance was boosted by a strong showing in the second-half of last year which saw GDP expand 16.1 percent and 11 percent in the third and fourth quarter respectively, the ministry of trade and industry (MTI) said. For next year, the growth targets have been raised from 3.0-5.0 percent to 3.5-5.5 percent, the MTI said. "The outlook for Singapore's economic growth in 2004 will continue to improve," Friedrich Wu, the MTI's economic division director, said at a media briefing.
■ Entertainment
Sony delays PSP release
Sony Corp will delay the planned release of its first hand-held player, called PSP, in the US and Europe because it wants developers to have more time to make games for the device. Sony has postponed until March 31 next year the planned December release of PSP in the US and Europe, said Nanako Kato, a spokes-woman of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, the company's game unit in Tokyo. The company left unchanged its plans to sell the device in Japan from December, she said.
■ Semiconductors
TI ready for 3G test
Texas Instruments Inc, the world's largest maker of semiconductors that power cellular phones, said its first sample of a chip based on China's home-grown third-generation mobile technology will be ready for testing by June. The chip, developed by Shanghai-based Commit, whose shareholders include Texas Instruments, Nokia Oyj and LG Electronics Inc, could be mass produced by the end of this year, Terry Cheng, the company's Asia president, said at a semiconductor conference in Shanghai. The chip is based on China's time-division synchronous code division multiple access, or TD-SCDMA, technology.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique