■ INTERNET
PRC okays Google license
Google Inc says it has received preliminary approval from Chinese regulators for its own Internet license, possibly boosting the search engine's campaign to expand its market share in China. Google announced the decision on Tuesday without saying how it might affect its operations in China or when it might receive final approval. Google already operates in China using the Internet license of its local partner, Ganji.com. Google is China's second-most-popular search engine, with 19 percent of search engine revenues. Industry leader Baidu.com Inc has 57 percent of revenues.
■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita aims high
Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co expects to double its production capacity for plasma display panels when a new plant begins production in western Japan in May 2009, a company spokesman said. The Osaka-based maker of Panasonic-branded electronics plans to manufacture 300,000 42-inch plasma display panels a month at a new plant to be built in the western Japan city of Amagasaki, spokesman Akira Kadota said. Combined with a planned output increase at another Amagasaki plant that began operating this month, Matsushita will be able to turn out 1.26 million panels a month by May 2009, up from the current 640,000 panels, Kadota said. The company currently has four plasma display panel plants in Japan and another one in Shanghai, he said.
■ BANKING
German bank mulls buyout
Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, is planning on an acquisition in central Europe to complement its global transaction business, the group's global banking business head said yesterday. "We are looking geographically within Europe," Michael Cohrs said on the sidelines of a conference in Frankfurt, Germany. "I don't want to give details because the deal that we are working on will be announced relatively quickly." Cohrs said the deal would be relatively small, less than US$670 million.
■ ENERGY
PetroChina to sell A shares
PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣), a listed unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp, said yesterday that it is planning to sell up to 4 billion yuan-denominated A shares in a public offering in Shanghai in order to raise money for further exploration and development, construction of a refinery and overseas acquisitions. PetroChina, which is listed in Hong Kong and has American Depositary Receipts that trade in New York, did not disclose a target price for its share sale in Shanghai. Last month, PetroChina announced the discovery of proved crude oil and natural gas reserves amounting to 3.72 billion barrels of oil equivalent, in China's Bohai Bay.
■ TECHNOLOGY
S Korea helps small firms
South Korea's government offered yesterday to set up a US$1.08 billion fund to help small and medium-sized firms with high technology. Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu did not say when the fund would be set up but promised to create a better business environment for small firms. Kwon said the government would take ease restrictions and financial burdens on small firms. Business groups have urged the government to improve market conditions.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
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