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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (4295)	6/9/1998 5:56:00 AM
From: Thomas Haegin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Repost: Japan firms boost LCD output as PC demand improves Tuesday June 9, 4:14 am Eastern Time TOKYO, June 9 (Reuters) - Japanese electronics firms said on Tuesday they were increasing production of thin film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal displays (LCDs), the most advanced type of LCD, due to a recovery in domestic demand for personal computers. Efforts by computer makers to increase LCD use in desktop computers, which have traditionally used cathode-ray-tube (CRT) displays, is also contributing to greater demand, they said. LCDs are gaining popularity as they use one-third less power than CRT displays and are compact, industry sources said. Sharp Corp , a leading maker of TFT-LCDs, said its output of large TFT-LCDs would increase to about 370,000 a month following the start up of its new factory in Mie prefecture, central Japan, in early 1999. A Sharp spokesman said output of 12.1 inch panel TFT-LCDs at the new factory, which cost 50 billion yen to build, would be at least 150,000 units a month. If demand for LCDs continues to grow, Sharp may expand the new factory's capacity to around 400,000 units per month, the spokesman said. Sharp expects demand for LCDs for use in notebook PCs and desktop PCs to continue to rise, he said. TFT-LCDs have a faster response time compared to conventional LCDs but cost more to produce. Display Technologies Inc, a 50-50 venture between Toshiba Corp and IBM Japan Ltd , started full production at its TFT-LCD plant in Shiga prefecture, western Japan, in May, following an improvement in PC demand, a Toshiba spokesman said. The plant was completed in autumn last year, but had remained closed due to slumping PC demand, he said. NEC Corp increased LCD output at its plant in Akita prefecture, northern Japan, by raising operating rates to 100 percent in April from 80 percent during the January-March period, an NEC spokesman said. NEC plans to boost domestic shipments of desktop PCs with LCDs to 30 percent of total domestic shipments in the year to March 1999 against almost nil last year, and to 45 percent of domestic notebook PC shipments against 39 percent a year earlier, the spokesman said. NEC plans to increase domestic PC shipments to 3.0 to 3.1 million units in 1998/99, up two to five percent from a year earlier, he said. Hitachi Ltd said it is planning to increase use of LCD displays in desktop PCs to 55 percent of total domestic desktop PC shipments in 1998/99, up from 50 percent a year earlier. Desktop PCs will account for 65 percent of its total PC shipments of 700,000 units in 1998/99, an Hitachi spokesman said. Fujitsu Ltd, expects its domestic PC shipments to remain flat at two million units in 1998/99, but expects use of LCDs in its PCs to increase gradually, a Fujitsu spokeswoman said. -eom- -------------------------------- Interesting - a silver lining in Japan, at least for PC demand? Would take off a little pressure from the Dell's and Compaq's for future EPS... Thomas

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (4295)	6/9/1998 6:01:00 AM
From: Thomas Haegin	Respond to of 9980

News: Japan enacts laws to overhaul central bureaucracy Tuesday June 9, 5:08 am Eastern Time By William Mallard TOKYO, June 9 (Reuters) - Japan enacted measures on Tuesday aimed at overhauling its sprawling central government bureaucracy but it remains unclear whether the long-term plan will really tame the country's powerful mandarins. Parliament's Upper House voted into law Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's plan to trim the government's 22 ministries and agencies to one cabinet agency and 12 ministries and agencies starting in 2001. Hashimoto has vowed that the process will remove much of the arbitrary power from the bureaucracy, but critics charge it will do little more than rearrange the plaques on the buildings of Tokyo's Kasumigaseki government district. Opposition parties criticised not only the bills but also the government's decision to push them through ahead of a supplementary budget to help pay for tax cuts in a recently announced economic stimulus package. The secretary-general of Hashimoto's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has said the LDP will seek to extend the current session of parliament, slated to end Wednesday, to June 18 to allow passage of the budget. Domestic news reports say the Democratic Party and other opposition groups will oppose the extension, although they favour the tax cuts, and are planning to submit a no-confidence resolution against the government. The delay of the popular budget measure allowed Hashimoto to get the administrative reform law through parliament. But the law represents a watering down of original plans to break up the Ministry of Finance and privatise the postal insurance system. Under a separate law already in place, the Finance Ministry's financial supervision functions are to be split off on June 22 and vested in a new Financial Supervision Agency. But as almost all its roughly 400 employees are to come from the Finance Ministry, critics question how independent the agency will be. The administrative reform law, which was toned down by a Hashimoto-run panel late last year, avoids privatising the huge ''Kampo'' insurance scheme of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Instead, the law calls for establishing public companies to oversee Kampo and the postal savings and mail-delivery services. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry is expected to grow under the plan by absorbing some of the MPT's information and telecommunications elements into a new ''Industry Ministry.'' Hashimoto is to set up another panel as early as this month to begin working on the specifics of implementing the overhaul scheme, and aims to submit related bills to parliament next March, Kyodo News Service said. -eom- ----------- Good news... but starting only in three years. I cannot understand why they start the work right now??? T.

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (4295)	6/9/1998 6:06:00 AM
From: Thomas Haegin	Respond to of 9980

A useful currency summary on Asian Currencies from Reuters: Tuesday June 9, 5:42 am Eastern Time ASIAN CURRENCIES - Regionals recover in places Change on the day... TUE 09 0936.GMT. Currency....Latest.......Prev Close.....Pct Move Ringgit.....3.95...........3.99...........1.01% Rupiah......11750.00.......11650.00......-0.85% Baht........42.95..........43.30..........0.81% Peso........39.15..........39.40..........0.64% Sing Dlr....1.72...........1.71..........-0.35% Taiwan Dlr..34.72..........34.70.........-0.04% Korean Won..1393.00........1398.00........0.36% ..... ..... Change since start of Asia crisis....... Currency....Latest.......July '97.......Pct Move Ringgit.....3.95...........2.52.........-36.20% Rupiah......11750.00.......2432.00......-79.30% Baht........42.95..........25.90........-39.70% Peso........39.15..........26.50........-32.31% Sing Dlr....1.72...........1.43.........-16.67% Taiwan Dlr..34.72..........27.75........-20.06% Korean Won..1393.00........842.00.......-39.55% -eom-