■ Electronics
EA to release phone games
California-based computer game maker Electronic Arts will soon begin offering games for mobile phones. Among the titles in planning are "FIFA 06" soccer and "SimCity," the company announced recently. Additional games to be made compatible with mobile phones are "Need for Speed Most Wanted" and "The Sims 2." These games are expected to be released by the end of the year. The service providers will likely follow. Each game title will likely cost about US$5.
■ Hospitality
Luxury hampers on offer
A five-star hotel in Hong Kong was yesterday offering what may be the world's most expensive Christmas hamper with a HK$1 million (US$129,000) price tag. The hamper offered by the Ritz-Carlton includes champagne, caviar, cigars, diamond jewellery, vouchers for a stay in the hotel's presidential suite and a flight by a Gulfstream jet to Bali. The hamper is believed to be the most expensive ever offered in Hong Kong -- where the top-priced hamper last year was a US$48,888 offering from Sogo. It may also be the most expensive commercial hamper anywhere, although there is no such category in the Guinness Book of World Records. The basic ingredients of the Ritz-Carlton hamper are Krug champagne, caviar and Cuban cigars, along with vouchers for a three-day, two-night stay at the Ritz-Carlton's presidential suite. Buyers will have exclusive use of a Rolls Royce limousine and a gourmet dinner for six on the final night.
■ Electronics
Hitachi plans India offices
Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics maker, will open outsourcing centers in India to provide software development and system support services to Japanese clients in the US and Europe, the Nikkei English News reported yesterday. The Tokyo-based company will partner with Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Intelligroup Inc to open offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad, with 200 employees, the report said, citing company officials it didn't identify. The company expects to hire up to 1,000 employees in two years, it said. Hitachi plans to increase the share of overseas revenue in its information and communications business to 40 percent by 2007, according to the report.
■ Auto industry
Toyota profits to hit record
Toyota Motor Corp's net profit for the year to March next year is expected to hit a record US$10.4 billion thanks to brisk sales and a weak yen, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday. Toyota is scheduled to announced its interim earnings report on Friday. The company is likely to report a group net profit of ¥1.2 trillion (US$10.4 billion), an all-time high for the fourth consecutive year, up 2 percent from the previous year, the paper said. Operating profit is expected to increase 5 percent to a record ¥1.75 trillion for the year on sales seen to gain 8 percent to about ¥20 trillion, the business daily said. The exchange rate is currently running around ¥115 to the dollar, against the company's assumed rate of ¥105. If the current rate continues until year's end, Toyota is expected to enjoy a foreign exchange gain of some ¥100 billion, it said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
‘SPECIAL CHANNEL’: Taipei’s most important tasks are to stabilize industries affected by Trump’s trade tariffs and keep negotiations with Washington open, a source said National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) arrived in the US for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported earlier. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on Jan. 20. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was also a part of the delegation. The visit came days after China concluded war games around Taiwan and amid Trump’s
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
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