■ Forex
South Korea to ease rules
South Korea is planning significant steps to liberalize foreign exchange trade, which will also expand opportunities for South Koreans seeking to buy property abroad, officials said yesterday. The Ministry of Finance and Economy said it would move forward the government's deadline for currency market liberalization by two years to 2009 in an effort to control the won's value against the US dollar. From 2009, South Koreans will be allowed to invest up to US$1 million in property overseas, it said. They are now restricted to buying overseas for residential purposes only. The limit on lending in won to foreign investors will also be raised to 10 billion won (US$10.6 million) from one billion won, it said.
■ Fast Food
Yum eyeing China
Yum Brands Inc, the parent of fast food chains KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, plans to open at least 400 restaurants in China and 700 in its international division this year, the firm's chairman and CEO said on Thursday. With more than 34,000 outlets, Yum has more than any other company worldwide but trails rival McDonald's Corp in sales. Speaking at the Louisville-based company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO David Novak said that building dominant brands in China and international expansion were among the company's top growth strategies. At the end of the first quarter, Yum had 1,602 KFCs and 243 Pizza Huts in its China division, which includes China, Thailand and Taiwan.
■ Auto
Toyota mulls new US plant
Toyota Motor Corp is considering building an eighth North American plant as it looks to expand production on US soil to try to avert trade spats with Washington, a report said yesterday. The company is looking at potential sites mainly in southern US states like Texas, Kyodo News reported. The plant may be ready to start production in 2009 with an annual production capacity of about 200,000 vehicles, the news agency said, citing unnamed sources at the company. That and other factories are expected to increase Toyota's combined annual production capacity in North America to 2 million units, up 800,000 from last year's levels, Kyodo said. Toyota said no decision had yet been taken. Honda Motor, Japan's third-largest automaker, this week unveiled plans to open a new factory of its own at an undisclosed location in the US by 2008.
■ Software
Symantec sues Microsoft
Security software maker Symantec Corp accused Microsoft Corp in a federal lawsuit of misappropriating its intellectual property and breach of contract. Thursday's lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop Microsoft from selling the next version of its Windows operating system, due out to consumers next year, until the technology is removed. It was filed in the US District Court in Seattle. The dispute is over a technology that allows operating systems to handle large amounts of data. Symantec acquired the technology through its acquisition of Veritas Software Corp last year. Veritas and Microsoft had signed a licensing agreement, but Symantec claims the terms were violated. Symantec, which makes the Norton software to protect computers from Internet attacks, has traditionally been a Microsoft partner. But Microsoft is preparing to release its own Internet security products, pitting it directly against Symantec and others.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,
MANAGING DIFFERENCES: In a meeting days after the US president signed a massive foreign aid bill, Antony Blinken raised concerns with the Chinese president about Taiwan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the US and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Talks between the two sides have increased over the past few months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues