■ Semiconductors
Chip sales up 7 percent
Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 7 percent in January from a year before as the year got off to a "good start," a trade group said. Global sales climbed to US$19.66 billion in January from US$18.38 billion in January last year, the Semiconductor Industry Association said today in an e-mailed statement. A 1.5 percent decline from December to January compared with a historical average of 2.2 percent following the "seasonally strong" fourth quarter, it said.
■ Finance
China's reserves criticized
China foreign exchange reserves are too large and investing them in US Treasuries is providing Washington with cheap financing at the expense of Chinese returns, state press reported yesterday. "China's foreign exchange reserve hit US$818.9 billion at the end of last year but what China really needs should be no more than US$250 billion," economist Xiao Zhuoji told the Shanghai Securities Times. "The current [holdings are] way above actual needs," he said. Chinese reserves should be cut by more than two-thirds from current levels, Xiao said.
■ Television
TiVo to help with screening
US digital television recording pioneer TiVo announced on Thursday that it had teamed with family-values groups to create a tool to shield children's eyes from adult programming. TiVo allied with Common Sense Media and the Parents Television Council to create menus of television shows acceptable for children in a service dubbed "KidZone," the Alviso, California, company said in a statement. While television-top TiVo boxes would allow children to record and see only KidZone programming, adults in the homes would be able to access any shows available, according to the company.
■ Semiconductors
HP boosts Itanium spending
Hewlett-Packard Co extended its spending on Intel Corp Itanium computer chips by US$3 billion, giving a boost to a processor line that hasn't met Intel's expectations. The new orders through 2010 raises the total investment in Intel's chip to US$6 billion from the US$3 billion the company planned to spend through next year, said Rich Marcello, a vice president for Palo Alto, California-based HP. The commitment by HP, the world's No. 2 server maker, is an encouraging sign for Itanium, which hasn't lived up to Intel's expectation that it would replace its mainstay Pentium chip. HP had a 94 percent jump in sales of Itanium-based Integrity servers last quarter, chief executive officer Mark Hurd said on Thursday.
■ Automobiles
Ford sees big charges
Ford Motor Co expects to post US$1 billion in restructuring charges this year, according to a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The struggling automaker also said it expects its core automotive business to lose money this year after having posted a US$1 billion pre-tax loss last year. The Detroit-based company expects its sweeping reorganization plan, which calls for eliminating 30,000 jobs and closing 14 facilities by 2012, will result in a US$250 million charge for job reductions and a US$250 million charge for fixed-asset write-offs. It also expects to take a US$500 million charge for job cuts in Europe and at facilities it has acquired from bankrupt parts supplier Visteon Corp.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
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