■ COMPUTERS
Wistron to invest in Vietnam
Hsinchu-based Wistron Corp (緯創) plans to invest US$10 million to build a factory in Vietnam for expansion. Wistron's board approved the Vietnam investment via its offshore unit, VNCap, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Friday, without elaborating. Wistron's shipments could reach 19 million units this year, up from about 11 million to 12 million units last year and 9 million in 2006, the Chinese-language Commercial Times newspaper said yesterday, without citing a source. Wistron is the world's third-largest contract manufacturer of notebook computers behind Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦).
■ PETROLEUM
Caracas reroutes oil to China
Venezuela is rerouting oil to China that had previously been sent to a US refinery co-owned by its state oil company and Exxon Mobil Corp, Venezuela's oil minister said on Friday. Rafael Ramirez said Exxon has stopped ordering crude for a refinery in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette as legal wrangling between the Irving, Texas-based company and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) continues. PDVSA and Exxon are locked in a fierce legal battle over compensation for the nationalization of a jointly owned heavy oil project in Venezuela's Orinoco basin last year.
■ COMPUTERS
Neo, Intel launch mini laptop
Philippine PC manufacturer Neo and multinational computer processor maker Intel have jointly launched a new 16,999 peso (US$406) mini laptop, spokesmen said yesterday. The Neo Explore is a "ruggedized and shock-proof" laptop with a keyboard that will not be damaged by spillages of liquids, Neo spokeswoman Mariel Que said. It weighs 0.66kg and is the size of a schoolchild's lunchbox, but will have the memory capacity and usual features of a standard basic laptop. Though the Explore is primarily designed for primary school children here, it can also be used by first-time PC users for word-processing and Internet access, Intel Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Jaguar deal under review
The European Commission said on Friday it would rule on Tata Motors' takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford by the end of next month after the Indian company reported the deal to Europe's top antitrust watchdog. Tata said in the notification that the deal did not represent a "significant impediment to effective competition" because the companies' "combined market shares are small." Tata Motors said on Wednesday it was buying the two British luxury icons Jaguar and Land Rover from ailing US carmaker Ford for US$2.3 billion.
■ BANKING
BayernLB losses may mount
Losses at Bavarian regional bank BayernLB stemming from the collapse of the US market for high-risk mortgages may be far higher than forecast, the state's premier said on Friday. Bavarian leader Guenther Beckstein told the daily Nordbayerischer Kurier in an interview yesterday that the writedowns could reach 4 billion euros (US$6.3 billion). Last month the bank estimated that losses could reach 1.9 billion euros. A BayernLB spokesman declined to comment ahead of the bank's annual press conference on Thursday. The heavy losses prompted chief executive Werner Schmidt to resign last month.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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