■ Cameras
Sony boosts digital output
Sony Corp, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, expects to increase digital-camera production next fiscal year by at least 20 percent to 30 percent to try to meet demand, a spokeswoman said. The company expects digital-camera shipments to match or exceed industry growth, said spokeswoman Aki Shimazu, confirming an earlier report by Dow Jones. It plans to produce and ship 15 million units in the year ending next March 31 up 50 percent from last fiscal year's 10 million units. A 20 percent to 30 percent increase in production would allow the company to ship 18 million to 19.5 million units in the year ending March 2006.
■ Pharmaceuticals
Firm stops drug defense
British drug maker Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) said yesterday that it has abandoned its defense of the Chinese patent for a component of its popular diabetes drug Avandia following a chal-lenge by three Chinese competitors. The announce-ment came six weeks after US-based Pfizer Inc was stripped of a Chinese patent for its anti-impotence drug Viagra in a case that foreign businesses regarded as a test of China's commitment to protecting GSK's Chinese subsidiary announced its decision following a hearing yester-day morning at which China's State Intellectual Property Office declared that that company had waived its claim to a patent on rosiglitazone last week. The company didn't give a reason for the move. Lilian Xiao, a spokeswoman for GSK China Investment Co Ltd, said GSK's decision won't let Chinese compe-titors sell copies of Avandia, because the company still holds two other Chinese patents covering the drug.
■ Investment
Temasek diversifing
The Singapore government's investment arm plans to diversify its investment portfolio by shifting much of its focus from the city-state to the rest of Asia and to developed economies worldwide, the media reported yesterday. The cash-rich Temasek Holdings has this year bought stakes in South Korean, Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian corporations, particularly banks and telecom com-panies. "Temasek is shifting its investment stance from a Singapore-centric portfolio to a balanced global port-folio of one-third Singapore, one-third Asia outside of Japan and one-third developed economies, including Japan," its executive director Ho Ching was quoted as saying by The Straits Times. Temasek made an unexpected S$2.82 billion(US$1.6 billion) cash bid last week for the world's seventh-largest shipping group, Neptune Orient Lines.
■ Aviation
Air France ups surcharge
Air France said yesterday that it was increasing its fuel surcharge by 12 euros (US$14.82) on long-haul flights from Monday until there is a month-long dip in oil prices. The airline, which introduced a three-euro surcharge on all flights in May, said it would also increase the surcharge on medium-haul journeys by three euros, that on domestic flights by two euros and that to France's overseas territories by 10 euros. The new surcharge increases will remain in place until the price of a barrel of oil remains below US$35 for a consecutive 30-day period, the airline said. Its KLM unit said separately it would increase the fuel surcharge by an average of three euros per ticket for all fares from Sept. 1.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
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