■ Processors
Phone chips compressed
Intel Corp, which is trying to boost sales outside its best-selling computer processors, found a way to stuff more cellphone chips in one case and allow clients to add functions such as cameras to phones. Intel has stacked a cellphone processor and memory inside one package. The company has samples of the new stacked chips Intel marketing director Mark Casey said in an interview. The tighter semiconductor packing saves space and means that cellphone makers can add cameras and other features to their lines, with more memory and the processing power to offer Internet access, handwriting recognition and video decoding. Intel has been shrinking the size of its memory and processor chips to ratchet up their speed and improve the battery life of phones and computers.
■ LCD screens
TDK plans thinner unit
TDK Corp, Japan's biggest maker of magnetic parts for hard-disk drives, will sell flat-panel displays in 2004 that will be thinner than liquid-crystal displays currently used for televisions and computer screens. The Tokyo-based company made a prototype of the so-called inorganic electroluminescent display, based on technology developed by iFire Technology Inc, a Toronto-based unit of Westaim Corp, Ryoichi Awano, manager of research and development at TDK, said in an interview. Compared with LCD screens, EL displays are thinner because they don't require backlighting. The displays show images by passing an electrical current through phosphors to make them glow. The new screens can be viewed from a variety of angles and can operate at temperatures below 5 degrees Celsius or above 80 degrees Celsius, unlike LCDs.
■ US ports
Productivity a problem
Shipping lines operating at West Coast ports in the US are concerned about low productivity there, a spokesman said Monday. Pacific Maritime Association spokesman John Pacthner said US shipping lines operating on the West Coast were "concerned" that productivity levels were still only at 20 percent, after a court ruled to end a 10-day port dispute said to be costing the industry US$2 billion daily. "We continue to be below these normal levels of productivity for two reasons," said Pacthner. He charged there was a shortage of staff provided by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and that workers provided "arrive late so they're not able to work full shifts." Pacthner said he did not yet see any "trend" toward a return to normal productivity.
■ Pilgrim's Pride
Poultry gets recalled
Pilgrim's Pride Corp plunged 25 percent after the company recalled 27.4 million pounds of chicken and turkey, the largest meat recall in US history. Pilgrim's Pride's shares fell US$1.73 to US$5.28 in New York Stock Exchange Composite trading. The stock of the second-largest US poultry company has fallen 61 percent this year. The Pittsburg, Texas-based company suspended operations at its Wampler Foods plant in Franconia, Pennsylvania, after tests showed signs of listeria monocytogenes. The bacterium causes an estimated 2,500 flu-like illnesses and 500 deaths annually in the US, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Agencies
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS