■ Semiconductors
Five firms to produce chips
Japanese semiconductor producer Renesas Technology, NTT DoCoMo and three other firms are to jointly develop system chips for use in the next generation of mobile phones, a report said yesterday. The firms, including Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric and Sharp, aim to start commercial production by late next year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, quoting company sources. The chips, which will perform core functions such as speedy data transmission and image processing, will primarily be based on Japanese standards for next-generation handsets, the business daily said. The chips will also be compatible with formats now widely used in Europe and other Asian countries, the daily said. Renesas hopes to reduce development costs as some ¥15 billion (US$127 million) in development costs will be shared by the five companies, it said. The new system chip will work with a fourth-generation mobile phone format that can send data about 10 times faster than the W-CDMA standard used in NTT DoCoMo's Foma third-generation service.
■ Energy
China's oil demand soars
China's oil consumption is expected to rise by 5.4 to 7 percent this year compared to last year, state media said yesterday, citing a report by the National Development and Reform Commission. The world's second-biggest oil consumer after the US consumed 288.5 million tonnes of oil last year, according to the commission. It did not explain the reason for the increase, but China's booming economy is becoming increasingly dependent on oil. Seventy-five percent of China's oil this year will be consumed by the transportation sector, the Xinhua news agency cited the commission as saying. It noted the increasing purchases of automobiles as one factor behind the rise. China is expected to import 44 percent of its oil demand this year, according to the commission. The country became an oil net importer in 1993 and has since been racing to secure resources abroad to power its booming economy as domestic production has fallen into an overall decline.
■ Aviation
AirAsia vows to keep stake
Top Malaysia-based budget airline AirAsia will not dilute its 49 percent stake in its Thai unit, executive director Kamarudin Meranun said yesterday. "AirAsia will remain a 49 percent shareholder in Thai AirAsia," Kamarudin said. "We have come to an agreement that our shareholdings will not be diluted and our rights in the existing agreement will remain in force." Thailand's AirAsia said last Tuesday that it would find new partners in order to comply with foreign ownership rules after the sale of its stakeholder Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek. The budget carrier is a joint venture between Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd which holds 49 percent and Thai telecommunications giant Shin Corp, founded by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which owns 50 percent.
■ Automobiles
Interest rates hurt sales
US sales of cars and light trucks will fall less than 1 percent to 16.8 million as higher interest rates hold down vehicle sales, the chief economist of the National Automobile Dealers Association said. "The affordability issue from rising interest rates takes some consumers out of the market," Paul Taylor said at a news conference on Saturday at the dealer group's annual convention in Orlando, Florida.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)