■ Oil Exploration
Shell to focus on Asia
Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe's second-largest oil company, plans to spend US$3 billion on drilling for oil and gas in Asia over the next three years, Dominique Gardy, Shell's Asia-Pacific chairman of exploration and production said in Singapore yesterday. The firm will be "more aggressive on exploration" in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing its spending on exploration and development in Australia, China and Borneo island in Southeast Asia, he said. "We have the opportunity to replenish our portfolio and our investment to benefit more from the higher price" of oil and natural gas, he said.
■ Internet
Google adds new service
Online search engine leader Google Inc is setting out make better sense of all the scholarly work stored on the Web. The company's new service, unveiled late Wednesday at http://scholar.google.com, draws upon newly developed algorithms to list the academic research that appears to be most relevant to a search request. Google doesn't plan to charge for the service nor use the feature to deliver text-based ads -- the primary source of its profits. By focusing on the citations contained in academic papers, Google also engineered its new system to provide a list of potentially helpful material available at libraries and other offline sources.
■ Semiconductors
Micron catches up to Hynix
The chipmaker Micron Technology Inc has pulled at least even with South Korean rival Hynix Semiconductor for the No.2 spot in the global production of dynamic random access memory chips, according to a survey by a British research firm. Gartner Dataquest of the UK said both Micron and Hynix had third quarter revenue of US$1.04 billion, or 15.2 percent of the market. That compared to second quarter revenue of nearly US$1.14 billion, or 16.7 percent of the market, for Hynix and only US$1.02 billion, or 14.9 percent, for Micron.
■ Auto Industry
Mitsubishi Motors to get aid
Scandal-hit Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp will likely get ?100 billion (US$960 million) in additional aid from three group firms, a report said yesterday. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, trading house Mitsubishi Corp and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd have reached a basic agreement on the additional assistance, the Sankei Shimbun said without citing sources. The aid will be unveiled in mid-December when Mitsubishi Motors announces plans on how it will try to recover business hit by a series of defect cover-ups, the newspaper said.
■ Mining
Noranda talks end
Canada's biggest mining company, Noranda Inc, has ended exclusive talks with China Minmetals Corp, but the Chinese metals trader said yesterday it will persist with its acquisition bid. Noranda announced Wednesday that the two-month deadline for exclusive talks with China Minmetals had expired, though discussions with the Beijing-based metals giant were continuing on a non-exclusive basis. Minmetals is leading a US$5.5 billion bid by a consortium of major Chinese state companies for 100 percent of Noranda -- part of a recent surge of overseas acquisitions and investments by Chinese companies seeking to expand their markets and gain access to scarce natural resources.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday said that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival-threatening situation," Takaichi was quoted as saying in the report. Under Japan’s security legislation,
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