■ Electronics
Infineon to close plant
Semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies AG said yesterday it has agreed with a labor union to close an outdated memory-chip plant in southern Germany in 2007. Infineon said it struck the deal with the IG Metall union on the fate of its Perlach plant near Munich during overnight talks. The company said it had increased its compensation package for affected staff after IG Metall, which had threatened to call strikes, had stopped asking for the closure to be delayed and reduced demands for retraining. It didn't give details of the agreement, which still needs approval in a workers' vote. The company has said it plans to shift jobs from the 20-year-old plant, which employs about 800 people, to other factories to cut costs and because its equipment is not able to produce the new generation of chips.
■ Software
Microsoft to hire in Asia
US software giant Microsoft Corp plans to add 1,200 employees to its Asia-Pacific workforce over two years and make an aggressive push into the small and medium-sized enterprise market, the software giant's new regional head said in report published yesterday. "We're bullish about Asia and are excited to see Asian economies rise back to rapid growth," Eduardo Rosino told Singapore's Business Times. The world's largest software company currently has 6,000 employees in the region and operates its Asia-Pacific headquarters out of Singapore. "The PC [personal-computer] markets in India and Southeast Asia are growing very fast," Rosini, 38, was quoted as saying.
■ Electronics
Hitachi announces losses
Japanese electronics giant Hitachi said yesterday that it plunged into the red in the first half of its financial year and cut its full-year forecast, hit by a slump in sales of digital products. Hitachi incurred a net loss of ¥10.95 billion (US$94 million) for the six months to September, compared with a profit of ¥41.16 billion a year earlier. Pretax profit dropped 68.8 percent year-on-year to 21.2 billion yen on sales which grew 1.9 percent to ¥4.4 trillion. "The Electronic Devices segment saw revenues decrease as sales of LCDs [liquid crystal displays] declined due to stiffer competition," Hitachi said in a statement. "The digital media and consumer products segment recorded lower revenues due to falling prices," it said. Monitoring the dismal results for the first half, Hitachi downgraded its net profit forecast for the full year to March next year to ¥20 billion from its earlier estimate of ¥55 billion.
■ Consumer prices
London most expensive
London is the most expensive major European city, with the French capital Paris coming in second, according to the results of a new study published here yesterday. A standard basket of 250 goods and services bought in London cost 5.3 percent more than the average throughout the 12 countries which use the common euro currency, according to the Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein report. Paris came second, 1.3 percent above the eurozone average, followed by Frankfurt (+0.8 percent) and Brussels (-0.4 percent), according to the results which were published in yesterday's Financial Times daily. Madrid, which came in at 2.5 percent cheaper than the eurozone average, was pronounced the cheapest major European city.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
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
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