■ PC security
`Big Yellow' on the loose
A computer worm is attacking business PCs through a flaw in antivirus software developed by Symantec Corp, a security company warned on Friday. EEye Digital Security, based in Aliso Viejo, said the worm, dubbed "Big Yellow," began attacking some computer systems on Thursday -- seven months after eEye first discovered the flaw. Symantec released a patch to address the flaw in May but it is up to its corporate customers to install it. Big Yellow enters machines through a security hole in the corporate version of Symantec's Norton Antivirus software. Once infected with the worm's "bot" program, a hacker can use it as a way to connect with other computers for malicious attacks.
■ E-Commerce
Amazon files countersuits
Amazon.com Inc denied that it had violated IBM Corp patents in building its massive retail Web site, and instead alleged that IBM infringed on Amazon's technology to improve its own offerings. In countersuits filed on Thursday in federal court in Texas, Amazon said that IBM's previous legal claims of patent infringement were a meritless and misleading attempt to cash in on its vast patent holdings and Amazon's success. Amazon this year will sell US$10 billion worth of everything from books and CDs to pet supplies and jewelry. IBM is the world's leading patent holder, spending US$6 billion a year in research and development and earning about US$1 billion a year in royalties.
■ Trade
Free-trade zones planned
The government is aiming at increasing the number of companies established in the country's free trade port zones from the existing 92 to 105 by the end of this year, a Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) official said on Friday. CEPD Vice Chairman Thomas Yeh (葉明峰) said that in order to attract more companies to the zones, the government will work to integrate efforts by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan's economic agencies stationed abroad, upgrade the operations of free trade port zones to the level of strategic industries, as well as relax limitations on the employment of foreign laborers at the zones.
■ Automobiles
Mazda to scrap stranded cars
Japan's Mazda Motor Corp will scrap some 4,700 cars that were left for roughly a month on a cargo ship that nearly capsized on its way to the US in July, reports said yesterday. The ship loaded with Mazda cars sat listing at an angle of more than 60? for nearly a month after an incident in the North Pacific in late July, Kyodo News and the Mainichi Shimbun reported, citing Mazda officials. Even though most of the cars had no visible damage, the automaker decided to throw them out as they were unable to ensure they were market-quality after such a long time at sea, one Mazda official quoted by the Mainichi said.
■ Economy
Emerging sectors targeted
Minister Without Portfolio Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said on Friday that the short and middle-term goal for local industry was to promote the development of several emerging sectors. She estimated that the production value of such sectors would exceed NT$1 trillion (US$30.3 billion) by 2015. The former economics minister said that examples of emerging sectors include wireless broadband, digital life, health care and the green industry.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
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