■ Energy
Firms ink LPG tie-up
Three top Japanese trading firms have agreed to a tie-up in the wholesale business for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the hope of reducing costs, a report said yesterday. The accord between Mitsui and Co, Marubeni Corp and Sumitomo Corp will create a rival to a joint venture set up by Idemitsu Kosan Co and Mitsubishi Corp in April, the Yomiuri Shimbun said without citing sources. The new combine should take about about 20 percent of LPG imports and have sales of some ¥300 billion (US$2.54 billion), it said.
■ Cellphones
Nokia cuts margin targets
Nokia Corp on Tuesday cut its operating margin targets, blaming increased exposure to the network infrastructure business. It also predicted global sales of mobile phones would grow by 10 percent next year. The world's largest cellphone maker lowered its target margin to 15 percent for the next one to two years, down from the 17 percent it set last December. At its Capital Markets day presentation in Amsterdam, the Finnish company also said industrywide shipments of mobile phones will be up 10 percent next year from the 970 million units it estimates will be sold this year.
■ Electronics
Chinese to spurn DVD
Nearly 20 leading Chinese makers are to stop making DVD players from 2008 as part of China's plan to replace the technology with a new home-grown standard, state media reported yesterday. Members of the EVD (Enhanced Versatile Disc) Industry Alliance, including China's biggest TV maker, TCL, are determined to make the EVD player a success in the market place, the China Daily said. Chinese makers will set the average selling price of EVD players at 700 yuan (US$89), which is roughly the same as a DVD player, the report said. More than 50 EVD models will be put on public display next week, it said.
■ Markets
Regulators to merge
The companies charged with regulating the two largest US stock exchanges -- the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock Market -- announced plans to combine their operations, calling it one of the biggest changes in the regulatory system since its creation 72 years ago. The new organization will be the world's largest securities regulator and aim to cut costs for Wall Street by eliminating redundancies within the groups' operations, the companies announced on Tuesday. Stocks will continue to be listed separately on the exchanges. The new company will begin operations in the second quarter of next year although the name of the new group has not yet been decided.
■ Computers
Kepcher joins business hunt
Carolyn Kepcher, who helped Donald Trump fire corporate wannabes on The Apprentice television show, took a new role on Tuesday -- helping Microsoft Corp find the best small-business idea in the US. The winner of the Redmond, Washington-based company's "Ultimate Challenge" contest will get US$100,000 in seed money, a storefront or other space in Manhattan for a year rent-free, and software to help get their business started. Kepcher and fellow judges -- maternity wear entrepreneur Liz Lange and Chris Caposella, a Microsoft vice president -- began hearing ideas on Tuesday. They eventually will pick four finalists. The winner will be chosen after more judging and by votes from the public.
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