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World Business Quick Take

■ Semiconductors
Philips eyes Korean plant
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's largest maker of consumer electronics, may build a semiconductor chip plant in South Korea, Minister of Information and Communication Chin Dae-je said yesterday. Philips may be "the anchor tenant on a chip cluster" that the government is trying to set up in Songdo, west of Seoul, Chin said. The plant will produce radial frequency identification (RFID) chips, which are used in tagging products in retail stores to transmitting personal information on luggage tags, he said. Talks are at a preliminary stage, he said.

■ Telcoms
Toshiba drops China phones
Toshiba Corp announced yesterday that it had withdrawn from the mobile phone business in China. "We have already sold our 33 percent stake in the joint venture mobile phone business in China early this year," a Toshiba spokesman said. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily said, without citing sources, that Toshiba had sold its stake in the joint venture -- set up in 2000 to produce mobile phones -- to Nanjing Postel Telecommunications for an undisclosed sum. Toshiba had targeted the market for high-end products and had released some models, including a video e-mail phone for 6,000 yuan (US$722), the spokesman said. "But the pace of expansion in the market for high-end products was below our expectations," he said. "We eventually decided to focus our resources on the European market where we can expect [higher] growth potential."

■ Energy
Rolls Royce invests in cells
British engine-maker Rolls Royce Group PLC signed an agreement yesterday with a Singapore consortium to invest US$100 million to develop a commercially viable power system based on fuel cell technology. Rolls Royce will provide 75 percent of the investment while the consortium, comprising the Economic Development Board, Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. and Accuron Technologies, will invest the remaining quarter. "Temasek sees strong commercial potential in the solid oxide fuel cell being developed by RRFCS" or Rolls Royce Fuel Cell Systems, said Pan Suan Swee, Temasek's managing director for strategic development.

■ Food
Sudan I found in China
China said yesterday that it has found 88 food products and ingredients nationwide that contain the cancer-causing dye Sudan I, although its health ministry said it is unlikely to pose immediate health risk. The food products containing the dye were mainly chilli-flavored food additives, chilli oils and sauces, preserved vegetables and instant noodles, according to a list posted on the Web site of the State Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The products were made by 30 companies mostly located in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai.

■ Automobiles
Ford to cut 1,000 jobs
Ford Motor Co will try to eliminate about 1,000 salaried jobs by this summer as part of a voluntary buyout program, the company said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Marcey Evans said the buyouts will be offered to employees who are eligible to retire as well as some employees who aren't yet eligible. She said eligible employees will be notified by the end of this month and those who take the offer will leave by June 30.

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