■ Electronics
EA to release phone games
California-based computer game maker Electronic Arts will soon begin offering games for mobile phones. Among the titles in planning are "FIFA 06" soccer and "SimCity," the company announced recently. Additional games to be made compatible with mobile phones are "Need for Speed Most Wanted" and "The Sims 2." These games are expected to be released by the end of the year. The service providers will likely follow. Each game title will likely cost about US$5.
■ Hospitality
Luxury hampers on offer
A five-star hotel in Hong Kong was yesterday offering what may be the world's most expensive Christmas hamper with a HK$1 million (US$129,000) price tag. The hamper offered by the Ritz-Carlton includes champagne, caviar, cigars, diamond jewellery, vouchers for a stay in the hotel's presidential suite and a flight by a Gulfstream jet to Bali. The hamper is believed to be the most expensive ever offered in Hong Kong -- where the top-priced hamper last year was a US$48,888 offering from Sogo. It may also be the most expensive commercial hamper anywhere, although there is no such category in the Guinness Book of World Records. The basic ingredients of the Ritz-Carlton hamper are Krug champagne, caviar and Cuban cigars, along with vouchers for a three-day, two-night stay at the Ritz-Carlton's presidential suite. Buyers will have exclusive use of a Rolls Royce limousine and a gourmet dinner for six on the final night.
■ Electronics
Hitachi plans India offices
Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics maker, will open outsourcing centers in India to provide software development and system support services to Japanese clients in the US and Europe, the Nikkei English News reported yesterday. The Tokyo-based company will partner with Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Intelligroup Inc to open offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad, with 200 employees, the report said, citing company officials it didn't identify. The company expects to hire up to 1,000 employees in two years, it said. Hitachi plans to increase the share of overseas revenue in its information and communications business to 40 percent by 2007, according to the report.
■ Auto industry
Toyota profits to hit record
Toyota Motor Corp's net profit for the year to March next year is expected to hit a record US$10.4 billion thanks to brisk sales and a weak yen, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday. Toyota is scheduled to announced its interim earnings report on Friday. The company is likely to report a group net profit of ¥1.2 trillion (US$10.4 billion), an all-time high for the fourth consecutive year, up 2 percent from the previous year, the paper said. Operating profit is expected to increase 5 percent to a record ¥1.75 trillion for the year on sales seen to gain 8 percent to about ¥20 trillion, the business daily said. The exchange rate is currently running around ¥115 to the dollar, against the company's assumed rate of ¥105. If the current rate continues until year's end, Toyota is expected to enjoy a foreign exchange gain of some ¥100 billion, it said.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
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