■ELECTRONICS
NEC, Renesas delay deal
NEC Electronics Corp and Renesas Technology Corp, Japan’s second-largest chip maker, delayed signing a merger to the end of next month, citing the need for more time to evaluate the assets. “The due diligence process is taking longer than we expected, but we are confident about reaching an agreement next month,” Shinichi Kaede, a spokesman at NEC Electronics, said by phone yesterday. The two companies, which had originally planned to agree on terms of the transaction by the end of this month, maintained their target date of April next year to complete the merger, he said. The combined company will achieve an operating-profit margin of at least 5 percent, NEC Electronics president Junshi Yamaguchi said last month.
■AVIATION
EADS profit jumps in Q2
European aerospace giant EADS yesterday reported a 76 percent jump in net profit for the second quarter to 208 million euros (US$297 million) despite costs linked to delays of its A400M plane. EADS, the parent company of Airbus, said its second-quarter operating profit was up 69 percent to 656 million euros, but for the first half of the year was down 23 percent at 888 million euros. It said the drop reflected a charge of 191 million euros taken to cover delays on the A400M military transport project. Total provisions for the aircraft add up to 2.3 billion euros.
■FINANCE
Bank to scale back network
Bank of America Corp is planning to reduce its 6,100-branch network by about 10 percent, the Wall Street Journal cited bank chief executive Kenneth Lewis as telling investors. The plans were discussed at a meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, last Thursday, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter. The Journal’s sources added that Liam McGee, president of Bank of America’s consumer and small-business bank, also said branch closures were planned, but did not specify how many locations could be closed.
■INTERNET
Google sells AOL stake
Time Warner has bought back Google’s 5 percent stake in struggling Internet company AOL for US$283 million. The price, paid on July 8, is close to what Google estimated its stake at earlier this year. The details emerged in a regulatory filing by AOL on Monday. The deal sets the stage for AOL’s impending spin-off from parent Time Warner. Google bought the stake for US$1 billion in 2006, but in January estimated the investment had sunk by more than 70 percent to US$274 million — giving AOL a market value of about US$5.5 billion. Time Warner agreed to buy back the stake earlier this year. The price at which New York-based Time Warner bought back the stake values AOL slightly higher, at about US$5.66 billion.
■TELECOMS
Verizon to cut 8,000 jobs
Verizon Communications, the second-largest US phone company, said on Monday it would slash another 8,000 jobs in the second half of this year amid declining earnings. Profits fell 21 percent to US$1.48 billion, or US$0.52 per share, from US$0.66 per share a year earlier, Verizon said. Revenue rose 11 percent to US$26.9 billion on increased sales of high-speed fiber-optic internet service and the company’s acquisition of rival Alltel Corp in January. Verizon was hurt by rising pension costs and cuts in landline phone service, especially by businesses.
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
DETERRENCE EFFORTS: Washington and partners hope demonstrations of force would convince Beijing that military action against Taiwan would carry high costs The US is considering using HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as a forward base to strengthen its naval posture in a potential conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington plans to deploy up to four nuclear-powered submarines at Stirling starting in 2027, providing a base near potential hot spots such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. The move also aims to enhance military integration with Pacific allies under the Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership, the report said. Currently, US submarines operate from Guam, but the island could
RESTRAINTS: Should China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, China would be excluded from major financial institutions, the bill says The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which states that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude Beijing from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China must be prepared
The partisan standoff over President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed defense budget has raised questions about the nation’s ability to adequately fund its own defense, the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a report released on Tuesday. The report, titled Taiwan: Defense and Military Issues, said the government has increased its defense budget at an average annual rate of 5 percent from 2019 to 2023, with about 2.5 percent of its GDP spent on defense in 2024. Lai in November last year proposed a special budget of about US$40 billion over eight years, and said he intends to increase defense spending to
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