■INDIA
Central bank raises rates
India’s central bank has hiked interest rates more than expected as it continues its fight against high inflation. The Reserve Bank of India is raising the repo rate — at which it makes short-term loans to commercial banks — by a quarter of a percentage point to 6 percent with immediate effect. It raised the reverse repo rate — the rate at which it borrows from commercial banks — by an unexpected half percentage point to 5 percent. Economists had expected quarter point hikes in both rates. This is the fifth rate hike this year.
■BANKING
China profits down
The earnings of major foreign banks in China plunged last year even as their Chinese rivals turned big profits, underlining the challenges facing overseas firms in the country, a report said yesterday. Profits at the Chinese unit of HSBC Holdings PLC plummeted 60 percent compared to 2008, while Standard Chartered’s China unit saw earnings fall 34 percent, the Wall Street Journal said, quoting a report by accountants KPMG. Profits at JP Morgan Chase’s unit in China fell 21 percent, it said.
■REFRIGERATORS
Samsung aims for the top
Samsung Electronics yesterday set a new goal of becoming the world’s top refrigerator maker next year, following its dominant position in computer memory chips and flat-screen TVs. Samsung is now the second-largest player in the global refrigerator market with a share of 11 percent after US rival Whirlpool’s 14 percent. Hong Chang-Wan, vice president of the company’s home appliance division, told reporters Samsung could become the world’s top refrigerator maker next year.
■ENERGY
GS, Siemens win Oman bid
A consortium of South Korea’s GS Engineering and Construction and Germany’s Siemens has won a US$1.3 billion deal to build power plants in Oman, GS Engineering said yesterday. It said in a statement the consortium would build two thermal power plants northwest of the capital Muscat by April 2013. Each plant will produce up to 750 megawatts of electricity. It said its previous projects to build power plants in Oman and Armenia helped it garner the deal. GS Engineering in April completed a US$218 million project to build a thermal power plant in Yerevan, Armenia.
■TELECOMS
ZTE wins India contract
Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE (中興通訊) said yesterday it had secured a contract to supply technology for a mobile network in India after New Delhi relaxed a ban on imports of telecoms equipment. The agreement will see ZTE build and supply second- and third-generation equipment for a network belonging to Indian mobile company Reliance Communications. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the statement.
■TECHNOLOGY
Google taking on iTunes
Internet search powerhouse Google is trying to put together an online music service that would take on Apple’s market-ruling iTunes, a report on Billboard.com said. Google is courting record labels for a service that would let people download songs in digital format or store music in the Internet “cloud” for streaming to online devices, according to unnamed sources cited by Billboard. Google is reportedly proposing charging annual subscriptions of about US$25 to let people store music online and then stream or download tunes as desired, Billboard said.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
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