■ Automobiles
Foreign cars more popular
US consumers are buying more foreign than domestic cars so far this year, according to a survey by research firm RL Polk. The survey showed General Motors, Ford and the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler captured just 47.1 percent of the US retail market in the first five months of the year, with imports accounting for 52.9 percent. The Polk data showed GM still holding the top position with sales of 1.17 million vehicles in the five-month period. followed by Toyota with 931,000, Ford with 768,000, Chrysler Group with 618,000 and Honda with 604,000.
■ Export
China to hit landmark
China is set to overtake Japan this year as the US' third-largest export market, a US trade official said yesterday. US exports to China grew 36.5 percent in the first five months of the year over the same period last year, Under Secretary for International Trade Franklin Lavin told reporters during a visit to China's business hub of Shanghai. "My prediction is, by the end of this year, China will be the US' third-largest export market, surpassing Japan, if this trend continues," Lavin said. US exports to China last year totaled US$41 billion, an increase of 25 percent from 2004.
■ Automobiles
Honda earns record profit
Honda Motor Co said yesterday that it achieved a record profit in the first quarter as a weaker yen and higher sales of fuel-efficient, compact cars caused sales to rise and earnings to jump 30 percent. Net profit at Japan's third-largest automaker rose to ¥143.4 billion (US$1.23 billion) in the April-to-June quarter as its sales soared 14.8 percent over the same quarter a year ago to ¥2.6 trillion, the company said. Its operating profit, which measures earnings before the deduction of interest payments and income taxes, rose 19.4 percent to ¥203.52 billion, it said.
■ Steel
Takeover progress released
Mittal Steel, the world's biggest steel producer, announced yesterday that it controls 91.88 percent of European steel maker Arcelor following its 25 billion euro (US$31.5 billion) takeover bid. "I am delighted at this result which is a resounding endorsement of the strategic logic and value of the merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor, a truly industry transforming deal," Mittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal said in a statement received by media in London. Mittal Steel updated the market after announcing on July 18 that it had acquired at least 50 percent of the shares in the world's number two steelmaker Arcelor, the minimum required for its takeover bid to succeed.
■ Computers
HP buys Mercury
Hewlett-Packard Co on Tuesday announced a US$4.5 billion cash deal to buy Mercury Interactive Corp, a maker of business software. "This is a market-changing event," Mercury chief executive Tony Zingale said in a telephone conference. "The technologies fit together like a glove, and the portfolio is unmatched in the marketplace." Provided the acquisition clears regulatory hurdles as expected, the purchase should be completed by the year end, said HP vice president Thomas Hogan. HP will pay US$52 per share for Mercury, which is located in Mountain View, California. HP predicted that the acquisition would increase revenues by 10 to 15 percent and its operating margin by an estimated 20 percent in fiscal year 2008.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
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