■ Computers
Lenovo sells branded PCs
China's largest computer maker Lenovo (聯想) yesterday launched its own brand of computers in the Asia-Pacific region, signaling its intention to grow the Lenovo name outside its home base. The company said the Lenovo stamped desktop and notebook computers -- under the Lenovo 3000 family -- will be targeted for sale to small businesses. This will complement the company's best-selling Thinkpad notebooks and Think Center desktops which still bear the IBM brand and caters mainly to large companies. Lenovo Asia-Pacific general manager Andrew Sotiropoulos said small businesses account for 40 percent of the market opportunities in the region.
■ Electronics
Sony to sell HD movies
Sony Corp, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, will begin selling movies for its high-definition (HD) DVD players on May 23, in line with an earlier announcement to debut the Blu-ray format by this summer in the US market. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc will release eight titles including 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch and House of Flying Daggers, according to a statement. Samsung Electronics Co will begin selling the first Blu-ray disc player on the same day, the statement said. Toshiba Corp, Japan's fourth-biggest maker of electronics, will begin selling its competing HD DVD players in March. The Blu-ray disc can store at least five times more than the 4.7 gigabyte standard DVD, and Toshiba's HD DVD can store at least three times more content.
■ Aviation
China to spend on airports
China will spend 140 billion Chinese yuan (US$17.4 billion) over the next five years to expand its airport infrastructure to meet a forecast 14 percent annual growth in domestic air traffic, a civil aviation official said yesterday. That is sharply higher than the 120 billion yuan the government spent on airport infrastructure in the 15 years from 1990 to last year. "By 2010, the mainland will have about 186 airports, up from 142 currently," said Gao Hongfeng, vice-minister of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, or CAAC. Several existing airports will also be expanded to ease the pressure on capacity from rising traffic, he said at an aviation conference in Hong Kong. Gao also said China's fleet of commercial aircraft will grow to 1,580 by 2010, up from 863 currently, before reaching a total of about 4,000 aircraft by 2020.
■ Electronics
Samsung raises forecast
Samsung Electronics Co, Asia's biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays and semiconductors, raised its sales forecast for this year, helped by demand for televisions and chips used in digital music players. Sales may increase 13 percent to 65 trillion won (US$67 billion), chief executive officer Yun Jong-yong said yesterday during the Suwon, South Korea-based company's annual general meeting for shareholders. Last month, Samsung forecast revenue of 63.6 trillion won for this year. Samsung is counting on events such as the World Cup to spur demand for products including televisions and liquid-crystal displays. Samsung is also betting on sales of NAND flash memory chips to rise, on demand from makers of digital music players such as Apple Computer Inc.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft