■ Televisions
S-LCD sees sales doubling
S-LCD Corp, the liquid-crystal display venture between Samsung Electronics Co and Sony Corp, forecast it will double sales to 4 trillion won (US$4.2 billion) this year, underscoring soaring demand for flat-panel televisions. Samsung and Tokyo-based Sony agreed to extend for a year an existing contract to buy panels from the venture, S-LCD said. The agreement is subject to change, the Tangjeong-based company said in a regulatory filing in Seoul yesterday. S-LCD, which sells LCD TV panels exclusively to Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung and Sony, sold 2 trillion won of panels to the two companies in its last fiscal year, exceeding the supply contract for the period by 11 percent, according to the statement.
■ Aviation
Boeing to reduce operations
Citing defense budget cuts and delays, Boeing Co announced on Monday that it would restructure its Wichita operations and lay off about 900 workers, or about 25 percent of its current work force at the plant. The Chicago-based company said its Wichita defense plant will focus on military 747 and wide-body aircraft modifications and upgrades. It also plans to continue its engineering center, focusing its engineering work here on the B-52 Stratofortress and other defense and civil aviation related businesses. Boeing said it will issue 60-day layoff notices to 360 workers yesterday. An additional 240 employees will lose their jobs by the end of July and 300 more jobs will be cut in mid-November, the company said.
■ Telecoms
NTT to allow number switch
NTT DoCoMo Inc and other Japanese mobile phone operators will spend as much as ¥10 billion (US$85 million) each to facilitate new rules allowing customers to reselect carriers without changing their numbers, Nihon Keizai newspaper said. DoCoMo, KDDI Corp and Softbank Corp, which will soon acquire Vodafone K.K., are trying to link their computer systems to transfer data for customers that switch carriers, the newspaper said without saying where it got its information. The companies will charge ¥3,000 to cancel a subscription and another ¥3,000 new contract fee. Carriers are adding music players, digital TV and other functions to their handsets to retain users as competition intensifies and the rule making it easier to switch providers, known as number portability, is expected be implemented in November.
■ Software
Oracle to offer Linux version
Business software provider Oracle Corp is considering plans to offer its own version of the Linux operating system and has studied an acquisition of Novell Inc, the open-source operating system's No. 2 distributor, according to a newspaper report on Monday. Rivals such as Microsoft Corp and IBM Corp commonly tout the benefits of these packages, called "stacks" Oracle's chief executive, Larry Ellison, told the Financial Times that the company might launch its own version of Linux and has considered buying Linux distributor Novell. That could help counter leading Linux vendor Red Hat, which just announced a US$350 million acquisition of JBoss Inc, a maker of open-source "middleware," which connects varying applications. "I don't think Oracle and IBM want another Microsoft in Red Hat," Ellison told the Financial Times.
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
‘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)
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