■ ELECTRONICS
Toshiba in chip sales boost
Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp plans to boost the value of its chip sales by two-thirds by the financial year ending March 2011, it said yesterday. The company aims to raise its chip sales to ¥2 trillion (US$16.2 billion) from sales of ¥1.2 trillion last fiscal year by selling more NAND flash memory chips, a Toshiba spokesman said. Demand for the NAND chips, used in cell phones, personal computers, digital cameras and MP3 players, is growing. Toshiba said, to help it achieve the ¥2 trillion sales target, it would raise its monthly capacity at its NAND chip plant in Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture, to 150,000 300mm wafers by September.
■ BANKING
HSBC raises Vietnam stake
Global banking giant HSBC said it has received approval from the State Bank of Vietnam to increase its stake in a Vietnamese bank in a deal worth US$33.7 million. HSBC has raised its shareholding in Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (Techcombank) to 15 percent from 10 percent. The deal came after Vietnam passed a decree in April to allow foreign banks to own 15 percent of a domestic commercial bank, which may be increased further to 20 percent after approval from the government.
■ MARKETS
Sensex predicted to soar
India's Sensex will reach 16,000 this year, the upper end of a projected range, as earnings climb and concerns about rising interest and inflation rates ease, Citigroup Inc said. The brokerage estimated the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-stock Sensitive Index, or Sensex, would trade between 14,700 and 16,000 points by December. The index rose to an intraday record of 15,075.30 yesterday, surpassing the high set on Friday. Citigroup expects the index to trade between 17,500 and 18,400 points by December next year, the brokerage said.
■ FOREX
Plan to cut Thai rate gap
The Bank of Thailand will allow overseas investors to renew their baht swap contracts with domestic banks as part of an attempt to reduce the gap in the currency's exchange rate in offshore and onshore markets. Overseas investors can buy the swap contracts to cover the exchange rate risk of their investments if those assets were bought before the imposition of capital controls in December, Suchart Sakkankosone, the bank's exchange control director, said yesterday.
■ TELECOMS
Vodafone opens Hanoi office
Vodafone Group PLC, the world's largest mobile phone company, opened an office in Hanoi last month as it seeks opportunities ahead of the possible sale of Vietnamese government-owned wireless operators. "We set up an office in Hanoi last month to monitor the situation," said Ben Padovan, a spokesman for the Newbury, England-based Vodafone. Vietnam has "growth" opportunities in the wireless market. Under chief executive Arun Sarin, Vodafone has focused on acquisitions and partnerships in emerging markets. The company completed its purchase of a controlling stake in India's Hutchison Essar Ltd in May for US$10.7 billion. Growth in western Europe has slowed as most people there now have mobile phones. "Ahead of the anticipated equitization of local GSM mobile network operators, Vodafone has opened a representative office in Vietnam to learn more about the market," Padovan said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday. Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community at a time when China is increasingly misusing Resolution 2758. The resolution had a clear impact when it changed who occupied the China seat at the UN, Lambert said. “Today, however, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increasingly mischaracterizes and misuses Resolution 2758 to serve its own interests,” Lambert said. “Beijing