■ Chipmaking
Nanya to sue Renesas
The Japanese unit of Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) will file a counter suit against Renesas Technology Corp, which claimed Nanya infringed on its patents, Dow Jones said. Renesas, a venture between Japan's Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corp, said it filed a claim last Thursday with the Tokyo District Court demanding Nanya stop using Renesas' technology on its computer-memory chips and pay compen-sation. Nanya won't sign a license agreement with Renesas for the patents on acceptable terms, Renesas, the world's third-largest chipmaker, said in a statement. Nanya will attempt to force Renesas to negotiate licensing fees through a counter lawsuit, the Dow Jones report said, citing executive vice president Charles Kau (高啟全). Renesas on Dec. 17 filed a similar complaint in a California court. Renesas plans an initial public offering this year that may raise more than ¥100 billion (US$917 million), bankers said last month.
■ Parmalat
Restructuring plan due
Italian Industry Minister Antonio Marzano said on Saturday that he expected a restructuring plan for bank-rupt food group Parmalat to be presented to his department within days. Marzano said officials had been in talks with the company's government-appointed administrator, Enrico Bondi, who has responsibility for drawing up the recovery plan. "We've met with Bondi several times and the Parmalat plan is being drafted," Marzano told reporters in Naples. "The core business will be retained and strengthened," he said. "And by core business we don't only mean Italian companies. There are also other foreign companies which give good results." Parmalat was declared insolvent on Dec. 27 last year. The company's debts are estimated at 14.8 billion euros (US$18.4 billion).
■ Internet
Check card charges
Internet users who spot bills on their credit cards from erotic portals online should not allow those charges to go uncontested. Charges from any online vendors must be paid only when a contract with the vendor has been entered into, say consumer-rights advocacy groups. Vendors are required under the laws of most countries to disclose the terms of any contract that is contested. Problems with Internet charges from sex sites online have frequently been linked to so-called dialer programs, which transmit the phone number and other data of users. Internet users who suspect that such programs have infiltrated their systems would do well to download and install anti-spyware programs such as Spychecker (http://www.spychecker.com).
■ China
New commerce chief named
China's legislature yester-day appointed Bo Xilai (薄熙來) to the powerful post of commerce minister, formalizing the ascendancy of a man considered to be among the country's rising leaders. Bo, 54, previously served as governor of the northeastern rust belt province of Liaoning. His new post was created last March to oversee the country's economic system, combining regulatory powers that were formerly scattered among several departments. Bo replaces Lu Fuyuan (呂福源), who has been on sick leave. Zhang Wenyue (張文岳), has been appointed Liaoning's new governor.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
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