■ Semiconductors
NEC Electronics expands
NEC Electronics Corp, the world's largest maker of semiconductors for cellphone screens, will spend US$47 million to build a factory to meet demand for its chips used in consumer electronics products. The new facility to house the production line will be completed in December alongside an existing factory in Yamagata prefecture, northern Japan, the company said in a faxed statement. Demand for chips used in consumer electronics products such as DVD recorders and cellphones prompted capacity expansion, the company said.
■ IT Systems
Infineon may scrap plans
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's No. 2 semiconductor company, may scrap plans to hand the management of the company's information technology systems to a contractor, Der Tagesspiegel said, citing unidentified people at the company's supervisory board. The shift in strategy comes after the ousting of former Infineon Chief Executive Ulrich Schumacher last month, the newspaper reported. Munich-based Infineon said in February it was about to award a five-year contract worth a three-digit million euro sum to transfer its global IT infrastructure with 250 employees to a contracting company, according to Tagesspiegel.
■ Asian economy
ASEAN ministers to meet
Financial integration and the outlook for Southeast Asia top a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) finance ministers in Singapore this week, but no new initiatives are expected to be discussed. A retreat is scheduled for today followed by the eighth meeting of the ministers on Wednesday. The introduction of too many new initiatives could "muddle up" progress, said an official involved in the preparations. The gathering will review work being done on initiatives endorsed at a meeting in Bali last October. ASEAN leaders agreed during their annual summit on a roadmap aimed at achieving a EU-style common market by 2020 or sooner.
■ LCD technology
Terminal market to jump
The Asia-Pacific market for sleek LCD terminals is expected to reach US$4.3 billion this year, an International Data Corp study said yesterday. The projected figure would be up from US$3.2 billion in 2003 and US$2 billion the year earlier, prompting LCD giants to ramp up production, according to IDC data published in The Business Times. "This year, we expect LCD monitor sales to grow 38.5 percent across the region," Reuben Tan, IDC's senior personal systems analyst, was quoted as saying. "The demand will keep supplies tight," Tan said.
■ Finance
IKEA man world's richest
Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who founded furniture retail chain IKEA, has overtaken Microsoft's Bill Gates as the world's richest man, Swedish TV news reported on Sunday. Citing next week's edition of the Swedish business weekly Veckans Affarer, public service SVT2 television said Kamprad, 77, has a personal fortune of US$53 billion. Gates's fortune is put at US$47 billion, according to the latest list of the world's rich in Forbes magazine, SVT2 said. Kamprad, known for frugal habits such as flying economy class, lives in Switzerland and no longer takes part in the daily running of IKEA.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
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