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World Business Quick Take

■ Semiconductors
Elpida seeks Hynix tariffs
Elpida Memory Inc, a ven-ture chipmaker of NEC Corp. and Hitachi Ltd, asked Japan to impose tariffs on Hynix Semiconductor Inc chips, claiming the company is subsidized by the South Korean government. The request by Elpida and Micron Japan Ltd to the Ministry of Finance follows an "improper subsidy" paid to Hynix by the Seoul government, Elpida spokes-woman Yuko Takahashi said. Elpida's actions are "inappropriate" and there was no illegitimate subsidy, Hynix said in a statement. For Hynix, already subject to punitive taxes from the US and the EU, extra duties from Japan means its may have to expand production overseas to dodge the taxes.

■ Telecoms
Sales boom for SE Asia
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's third-largest mobile-phone maker, said mobile handset sales in Southeast Asia will surge as much as three-quarters this year, aided by rising de-mand in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Samsung will sell as many as 7.5 million phones in the region, including Australia and New Zealand, compared with 4.3 million last year, said Park Sang-jin, Samsung's presi-dent and chief executive for Southeast Asia and Pacific. The Seoul-based company expects to boost its share in the region to 20 percent by the end of this year from 17.5 percent, he said in an interview at the Communi-casia trade show in Singa-pore. The company expects its global market share to increase from the first quarter's 13.1 percent, Park said.

■ Telecoms
Satellite market recovering
Asia will lead a global recovery in the commercial satellite market as the region's telecommunica-tions giants scramble to have their own relay stations launched into orbit, European specialist Arianespace said yesterday. The global commercial satellite market is recover-ing from its worst ever crisis caused by the burst of the dotcom bubble, Ariane-space chief executive Jean-Yves Le Gall said. Le Gall said growing demand for direct TV links through satellites and high-speed Internet connections are expected to spur telecom-munications firms to put up their own stations. The recovery should start this year, with 15 expected satellite launches world-wide, still down from the previous annual average of between 20 and 30. Of the 15 contracts, Le Gall said he expects Arianespace to get eight. Arianespace is the world's leading carrier of commercial satellites, accounting for 60 percent of the launches.

■ Automobiles
Mitsubishi trims costs
Mitsubishi Motors Corp revised its turnaround plan yesterday to further lower costs by slashing paychecks and reducing research and travel expenses. The auto-maker said in a statement that it expects to lose an additional ?60 billion (US$548 million) in the current and following fiscal years. Executives' salaries will be cut by a quarter to a half, while rank-and-file workers' wages will be cut by 5 percent for the next two years as part of a plan to trim costs by ?72.6 billion this fiscal year and next, it said. The company will also forego retirement allow-ances for directors and year-end bonuses for employees, it said. Suffering from deep losses and debts of more than ?1 trillion, Mitsubishi Motors announced a plan last month to cut nearly 11,000 jobs, close a car plant and receive a fresh cash injection of ?450 billion.

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