■ELECTRONICS
Panasonic to build plant
Panasonic Corp said yesterday it planned to build a new factory at a cost of more than US$900 million to produce image sensors to meet growing demand for digital cameras and medical goods. Image sensors turn pictures into electrical form, making them a key component for cameras, scanners and other devices. Panasonic said it would build the new factory next to its existing plant for image sensors in central-western Toyama prefecture. The company will spend ¥94 billion (US$922 million) on the new 11,000m2 facility. It did not specify when it would be operational.
■FASHION
Aquascutum may be for sale
Japanese apparel company Renown Inc indicated yesterday it was open to selling Aquascutum, the London-based suit maker to the aristocracy, as it fails to turn a profit. Founded in 1851, Aquascutum boasts of dressing some of Britain’s most powerful names in politics and show business and has enjoyed royal warrants to sell outfits to Britain’s royal family. But the pricey label has failed to turn a profit for four straight years. Japanese news reports said that Renown was looking to sell the company, which it bought in 1990 in ill-fated hopes that it would become the Tokyo-based firm’s core operation. “We are engaged in a comprehensive consideration of the issue,” Renown said in a brief statement on the reports. “There is no decision yet on the matter.”
■INDIA
Tata finds new plant site
Tata Group has found a new home for its project to build the world’s cheapest car after violent protests forced it to abandon its factory in West Bengal, reports said yesterday. With numerous states around the country vying to host the plant, Tata has chosen a site near Ahmedabad, capital of Gujarat, television reports said, citing company officials. Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata was expected to announce the move at a press conference with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
■INTERNET
eBay to cut workforce
Internet giant eBay Inc, which has seen sluggish growth in its online auction business, announced on Monday it was cutting its global workforce by about 10 percent. In a statement released by its San Jose, California headquarters, eBay said it was cutting 1,000 permanent employees and several hundred temporary workers in a bid to streamline its organization. Separately, it announced it was purchasing online payment service Bill Me Later — a rival to its market-leading PayPal — for US$820 million in cash and US$125 million in employee options. In addition, it said it was acquiring Denmark’s leading online classifieds site Den Bla Avis and vehicles site BilBasen for US$390 million in cash.
■ELECTRONICS
Chartered unfazed by AMD
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd, which counted Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) as its second-largest customer last year, said it sees “minimal impact” from the US chipmaker’s plans to spin off its manufacturing plants. “The level of business that we’ve been doing with AMD isn’t on the same level as in 2007,” Lim Li Chuen, Chartered’s Singapore-based spokeswoman, said yesterday. “Whatever they’ve announced, it’s of minimal impact to our business, if any.” AMD said it plans to spin off its plants to form Foundry Co, which will make computer processors for AMD and seek contracts from other companies.
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
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2