■ Electronics
Hon Hai investing in China
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, said it plans to invest US$163.5 million more on electronics factories in China. Hon Hai's board has approved seven investments in plants that make mobile phones, their parts and computer components, according to statements to the Taiwan Stock Exchange the Taipei-based company filed on Friday. The projects will bring the company's total approved investment in China to US$1.11 billion, Hon Hai said. Hon Hai's investments in China so far account for 8.5 percent of assets and 15 percent of shareholders' equity, the company said in a statement. Hon Hai's clients include Apple Computer Inc.
■ Internet
Google tackles porn in Brazil
Google Inc will help Brazilian authorities identify individuals accused of using the company's Orkut social networking service to spread child pornography and hate speech on the Internet, Google spokeswoman Debbie Frost said on Friday. Google will help detect content within Orkut linked to child pornography and hate speech against blacks, Jews and homosexuals, which is illegal in Brazil. Frost said material on Orkut could be reviewed or preserved, pending a court order. But Google has appealed a federal judge's order to turn over Orkut users' numeric Internet addresses, which can help identify them.
■ Trade
WTO to meet about Vietnam
The WTO said on Friday that its 149 members would meet on Nov. 7 to consider giving the green light for Vietnam's accession. The accession, and a debate on a report by negotiators outlining the deal, was included in the official agenda for the WTO's executive General Council meeting on Nov. 7 sent out by Director General Pascal Lamy. Trade sources have said that step is largely expected to be a formality, removing the last foreign hurdle in the way of its admission to the global free trading system within the next three months. The meeting in Geneva will take place just five days before Vietnam hosts a summit of the APEC Forum.
■ Currency
Thailand reins in baht
Bank of Thailand governor Tarisa Watanagase said the central bank had intervened to slow the baht's rise, as the Thai unit remained near a seven-year high yesterday. "The Bank of Thailand has intervened in the market for fear that the quick and sharp gain of the baht might hurt our economy, after massive capital inflows from the United States following the Fed decision to maintain interest rates," she told reporters on Friday. Tarisa declined to say how much the Thai central bank had spent to soften the currency. The baht closed on Friday at 36.87-89 to the US dollar, the highest level since January 2000. Yesterday it was trading at 36.715 in New York.
■ Retail
Daiei to discuss alliance
Struggling Japanese retail giant Daiei Inc will hold its first talks about a possible alliance with rival Aeon Co early next month, Kyodo News agency said late on Friday, citing Marubeni Corp's president, Nobuo Katsumata, a top Daiei shareholder. Daiei and its biggest investor, trading house Marubeni, said earlier this month they had given Aeon exclusive negotiating rights through March 31. The talks will be aimed at allowing Aeon to buy about a 15 percent stake in Daiei from Marubeni, and giving it the right to buy roughly a 20 percent stake in Maruetsu Inc from Daiei.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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