■ 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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
PROBE CONTINUES: Those accused falsely represented that the chips would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized end users, court papers said Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case local media have linked to the movement of Nvidia’s advanced chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek (深度求索). The US is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model’s performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such
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