■DEVELOPMENT
ADB appoints new VP
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) appointed Zhao Xiaoyu (趙曉宇) as vice president to succeed the retiring Jin Liqun (金立群), the bank said in a statement. Zhao, who is the deputy governor of the Export- Import Bank of China, will be overseeing the operations of the South Asia Department, the Central and West Asia Department and the Private Sector Operations Department. He served as the executive director for China at the Asian Development Bank from March 1999 to September 2002. The 67-member Asian Development Bank was founded in 1966 and based in Manila.
■ELECTRONICS
Matsushita could drop CRTs
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, the world’s biggest maker of consumer electronics, may end production of cathode-ray tube (CRT) TVs. Matsushita, which makes CRT TVs in Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil, will shut down those lines as early as fiscal 2010 to focus on plasma and liquid-crystal displays, the Yomiuri Shimbun said earlier yesterday. The company’s global sales of the bulkier TVs peaked in fiscal 2001, when it sold 8.5 million units, the report said. “We haven’t decided on whether we’ll end the production,” Akira Kadota, a company spokesman, said by telephone yesterday. “It’s true that we’re expanding our production of flat-screen models.”
■CELLPHONES
Nokia appoints ex-PM
The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia has hired former Finnish prime minister Esko Aho as the firm’s new head of corporate relations, the company said on Friday. Nokia said in a statement that Aho, who was centrist prime minister in 1991 to 1995, would begin at the company in the beginning of November. His predecessor Veli Sundbaeck will retire next year and Aho will also take his seat on Nokia’s executive board. Another former prime minister, Paavo Lipponen of the Social Democratic Party, has meanwhile been appointed independent adviser for Nord Stream, the company said.
■TRADE
Ministry offers seminars
The Ministry of Economic Affairs will hold two seminars in Taichung on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29 to help Taiwanese companies looking to invest in China develop strategies to deal with disputes with the Chinese authorities and familiarize them with the assistance that is available to them in handling any problems they might encounter. The ministry said the seminars were part of its plans surrounding the lifting of several restrictions on cross-Taiwan Strait investment and trade exchanges in recent months by the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
■ELECTRONICS
No price cut for PS3
Sony Corp does not plan to announce price cuts to its flagship PlayStation 3 games console at Europe’s biggest video games fair in Leipzig, Germany this week, a company spokesman said on Friday. “It’s not going to happen. If you’re coming for that you’ll be disappointed,” Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Nick Caplin said. In the 12 months ending on March 31, Sony sold 9.24 million units, below its initial estimates of 11 million sales. The company’s video game chief said that the firm was on track for the current year’s target of 10 million sales. Cuts to the Playstation 3’s original high price have helped boost its fortunes in Sony’s three-way battle with Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd in the global video game industry. The games fair runs from Wednesday through Friday.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The firm has already completed one fab, which is to begin mass producing 2-nanomater chips next year, while two others are under construction Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, plans to begin construction of its fourth and fifth wafer fabs in Kaohsiung next year, targeting the development of high-end processes. The two facilities — P4 and P5 — are part of TSMC’s production expansion program, which aims to build five fabs in Kaohsiung. TSMC facility division vice president Arthur Chuang (莊子壽) on Thursday said that the five facilities are expected to create 8,000 jobs. To respond to the fast-changing global semiconductor industry and escalating international competition, TSMC said it has to keep growing by expanding its production footprints. The P4 and P5
DOWNFALL: The Singapore-based oil magnate Lim Oon Kuin was accused of hiding US$800 million in losses and leaving 20 banks with substantial liabilities Former tycoon Lim Oon Kuin (林恩強) has been declared bankrupt in Singapore, following the collapse of his oil trading empire. The name of the founder of Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd (興隆貿易) and his children Lim Huey Ching (林慧清) and Lim Chee Meng (林志朋) were listed as having been issued a bankruptcy order on Dec. 19, the government gazette showed. The younger Lims were directors at the company. Leow Quek Shiong and Seah Roh Lin of BDO Advisory Pte Ltd are the trustees, according to the gazette. At its peak, Hin Leong traded a range of oil products, made lubricants and operated loading
The growing popularity of Chinese sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks has shaken up Mexico’s luxury car market, hitting sales of traditionally dominant brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Mexicans are increasingly switching from traditionally dominant sedans to Chinese vehicles due to a combination of comfort, technology and price, industry experts say. It is no small feat in a country home to factories of foreign brands such as Audi and BMW, and where until a few years ago imported Chinese cars were stigmatized, as in other parts of the world. The high-end segment of the market registered a sales drop
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
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