Japan
Hardware
- Sanyo Electric Co. says robust demand for liquid crystal displays used in consumer electronics may push its LCD business into a profit during the fiscal second half, but the yen's strength may frustrate that goal. For the year to March, Sanyo Electric forecasts an overall group net profit of ¥25.5 billion ($233.2 million).
- Ebara Corp. has developed a vacuum pump that the company says can displace 50,000 liters of air a minute, almost 70% over existing pump capacity. The high-performance pump is suitable for use in the manufacturing of large LCDs that is expected to start on a full-scale basis next year. Ebara aims to sell 200 of the pumps this fiscal year for more than ¥1 billion in sales.
Mobile / Wireless
- Casio Computer Co. and Hitachi Ltd. have agreed to set up a joint venture in April to take over most of their cell phone operations. The move will help spread the cost involved in developing handsets. Casio will take a majority 51% stake in the venture, with Hitachi taking the rest. Smaller handset makers are having a hard time securing solid profits in the increasingly competitive domestic market, where many makers are supplying similar products. Neither Casio nor Hitachi made it into the top-five ranking in Japan's mobile phone market last year. By joining forces, the two companies expect to trim their development and procurement costs while cutting the time needed to develop and launch products.
- Kansai Electric Power Co. is due to launch a wireless Internet access service in the greater Tokyo area in April. The electric utility has purchased a 35% stake in Yozan IP Networks Inc., a Tokyo start-up firm, to begin a wireless service based on the personal handyphone system (PHS). It is the first ever such move by a power utility to operate outside its traditional business area.
- Hitachi Ltd. and Hitachi Cable Ltd. have jointly developed a wireless LAN (local area network) location detection system accurate to within 3 meters, which may prove useful in warehouses or similar facilities. Locations can be displayed on the screen of a PDA (personal digital assistant) or personal computer. The system can be used indoors, a feat difficult for current GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.
Telecommunications
- Japan Telecom Holdings Co. reported weak earnings results for the first half, mainly due to one-time charges from the sale of its fixed-line phone division. Japan Telecom, the country's No. 3 telephone carrier, posted a group net loss of ¥125 billion ($1.2 billion) for the six months ended Sept. 30th, a sharp deterioration from the ¥43.5 billion ($400.1 million) profit it posted in the year-earlier period.
Korea
Hardware
- LG Philips LCD Inc. will spend W2.9 trillion ($2.5 billion), by the end of next year to finish constructing and equipping its most advanced factory for making LCD panels used in flat-screen television sets and computer monitors. The company, a joint venture of LG Electronics Inc. and Philips Electronics NV, is adding capacity to its facilities that make liquid crystal display panels in Gumi, a city of 350,000 about 280 kilometers south of Seoul. Other large electronics firms are rapidly increasing manufacturing capacity for LCD flat panels, amid growing demand for flat-screen monitors and TV sets. But the high cost of factories for building the panels is forcing electronics makers to work
- Samsung SDI Co. has successfully developed two kinds of organic electro-luminescence display that boast of the highest picture resolution in the industry. One of them is a 2.2-inch whole-color organic EL display panel in new quarter video graphics array with a resolution of 180 pixels per inch. The resolution is the highest among rival organic EL displays for mobile handsets currently out in the market. Organic EL panels have faster response times, wider viewing angles and are more compact. Unlike other conventional liquid crystal display panels that require backlighting at night, organic EL panels are designed to shine automatically when they receive electric signals together.
Mobile / Wireless
- Korea is set to launch the controversial W-CDMA third-generation mobile service despite growing concerns about overlapping investment and the poor chance of commercial success. SK Telecom Co., the country's largest mobile carrier, and KTF Co., ranked second, said they would push ahead with W-CDMA services, as planned. SK Telecom and KTF have secured the licenses for W-CDMA services, but they are now reluctant to invest heavily in the new technology. The main reason is that today's cdma2000 1x technology adopted by Korean carriers is already offering full multimedia mobile services. W-CDMA, in other words, is unlikely to provide any innovative additional features to local customers.
Semiconductors
- Hynix Semiconductor Inc. filed a lawsuit against the European Union, saying it unfairly imposed import duties on the company. Hynix believes it will be able to prove the EU's contention the South Korean government had subsidized the chip maker is groundless. In August, the EU imposed a 34.8% tariff on imports from Hynix, saying the South Korean government had subsidized the chipmaker in violation of World Trade Organization rules. The South Korean government maintains its banks financed Hynix with legal loans, independent of government influence.
China
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- China, the world's biggest maker of DVD players, moved to create its next-generation rival -- the EVD -- the first step toward creating a possible new national industry standard. Beijing E-world Technology Co. Ltd., the corporate entity of a government-backed consortium of businessmen and academics, and two DVD manufacturers unveiled the indigenous, higher-definition Enhanced Versatile Disc. However, analysts doubt that EVDs would be widely adopted in the rest of the world even if China were to adopt it.
Mobile / Wireless
- An innovative development that meets China's growing demand for low cost wireless service is the personal access-system (PAS) but commonly referred to as personal handyphone. This PAS service is offered by China's fixed-line providers, China Telecom and China Netcom, and is built around low-powered wireless phones that link to base stations in a user's home, which are connected to wireline networks. The range of the phones is just a few miles, but that is adequate for many people. China is the first country where PAS has gained mass-market appeal, but it is also taking hold in other countries such as Vietnam and India.
- China and Korea have agreed to join hands in developing fourth-generation mobile communication technology. The two countries reached an understanding on the need to work together to come up with new standards and produce the necessary technology for future mobile communication. The agreement was announced after the conclusion of talks with officials from China's science ministry that were held Nov. 14-15 in Seoul.
Telecommunications
- China Unicom Ltd. will buy nine provincial telecommunications networks from its parent for Rmb3.2 billion ($386.6 million) in cash and assume net debt amounting to Rmb8.1 billion ($975.9 million) at the networks. China Unicom will sell its ailing paging assets to the parent for Rmb2.8 billion ($331.3 million). The acquisition targets are network services in central and western China, including Gansu, Qinghai, Yunnan, Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Ningxia, Hunan and Tibet. The deal measures these operations at an enterprise value of Rmb11.3 billion ($1.4 billion).
Taiwan
Semiconductors
- Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. agreed to produce large-capacity flash memories for Renesas Technology Corp. Through the partnership, Renesas intends to boost its output capacity of AG-AND-type 1G flash memories to 5 million units a month by the end of fiscal 2004 from 1.8 million units currently. Renesas decided to team up with the Taiwanese foundry, Powerchip, to meet growing demand for large-capacity flash memories used in digital cameras and other products.
- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, the world's second-largest packager of computer chips, is looking to raise $441 million by selling shares and bonds overseas to fund expansion and pay loans as demand rebounds. Advanced Semiconductor's directors approved the sale of as many as 300 million new shares and as much as $150 million of bonds convertible into stock, potentially diluting earnings per share.
Singapore / Malaysia / Philippines / Indonesia
Mobile / Wireless
- Maxis Communications on posted a 10.4% year-on-year rise in third-quarter net profit and expected a satisfactory performance in the remaining quarter. Maxis' net profit for the three months to September rose to M$234.4 million ($62 million) from M$212.3 million ($55.9 million) a year ago. Sales rose to M$1.2 billion ($323.7 million) from M$964.2 million ($253.7 million) a year earlier. Maxis' net profit in the nine months to September rose to M$752.1 million ringgit ($197.9 million) from M$706.7 million ($186 million) a year earlier. Maxis' sales improved due to a 38% rise in net subscribers, from 2.9 million previously to 4.1 million.
Hong Kong
Internet
- Yahoo! Inc. would purchase 3721 Network Software Co., a closely held developer of Chinese language-based technology for searching the web, for up to $120 million in cash. The U.S.-based Internet portal firm said it would integrate 3721 Network Software's technology into its Asia-targeted web products. The purchase payment will be made over the next two years and the final amount depends on the achievement of performance goals. 3721 Network Software will become a unit of Yahoo!'s Hong Kong business operation.
Mobile / Wireless
- Hutchison Whampoa's chairman Li Ka-Shing was finally more forthright on the firm's third-generation (3G) service. He admitted things were not going as well as expected - but only because handset deliveries had been delayed. The dearth in handsets mean fewer subscribers in Europe and missed targets and a delay in Hong Kong's "3" launch, which was originally scheduled for June.
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