■ Computers
Dell opens Singapore center
Dell Inc, the world's largest personal computer maker, will open a design center in Singapore tomorrow, according to an invitation to the event. Dell President and Chief Executive Kevin Rollins will open the center, Dell said in the e-mailed invitation. Dell, which last month opened a call center in India, is expanding its presence in Asia as orders slow in the US, where it gets two-thirds of its business. Dell has 14,700 employees in Asia Pacific and has manufacturing facilities in Penang, Malaysia and Xiamen, China, according to the company's Web site. Dell operates service centers in Kawasaki, Japan, and Xiamen and plans to open a third one, senior vice president William Amelio said in February.
■ Auto industry
BMW sales fall in China
German luxury carmaker BMW expects China will become one of its five biggest markets in the world in a decade, the company's chairman said as he shrugged off a drop in sales, state media reported yesterday. BMW's sales in China tumbled 11 percent year-on-year to 3,977 in the first quarter of this year, the newspaper said, citing figures from the company's Beijing office. Sales also slumped last year, with BMW selling 15,500 vehicles in China, down 16 percent from 2003. "We will perform better this year than last year in China," BMW chairman Helmut Panke in an interview with China Daily. He said BMW will introduce a newly-developed 3-Series sedan from its joint venture in northeast China in the second half of this year and extend its dealership network to boost sales. It will also increase the number of its authorized dealers in China to 60 at the end of this year from 40 at present, Panke said.
■ Electronics
Sharp reports record profit
Japanese electronics maker Sharp said yesterday it posted a record net profit in the year to last month on continued robust demand for liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and camera-equipped cellphones. Net profit rose 26.6 percent to ?76.85 billion (US$725 million) as operating profit climbed 24.1 percent to ?151.02 billion and sales jumped 12.5 percent to ?2.54 trillion, also record figures. The outcome was slightly ahead of the company's own forecast. For the current year to March 2006, Sharp forecast even better results -- a net profit of ?87 billion and operating profit at ?160 billion on revenue of ?2.75 trillion. The company sees rising crude oil and other raw material prices and slowing exports as a downside risk to profits. "We will work to further improve the competitiveness of LCD color TVs," Sharp said in a statement.
■ Casinos
Singapore invites proposals
Singapore announced it has invited 14 companies and consortiums to bid for the right to build and operate the city-state's two planned casinos. The Singapore Tourism Board said on Monday that its initial request for concepts for the proposed resorts with casinos in December last year had attracted 19 submissions from 16 companies. Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said the government will issue a formal request for proposals for casino resorts from 14 companies in this quarter, with a submission deadline slated for the third quarter. The government expects to make its decision before the year's end.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than