•         The Nikkei reports that NEC Casio Mobile Communications, the entity which will be created through the merger of the mobile businesses of NEC, Casio and Hitachi, aims to ship some 5 million handsets overseas in fiscal 2012. This would be an increase of 200 percent of the aggregate shipments for fiscal 2008. NEC Casio Mobile Communications will launch new handsets, including smartphones, in North America, as well as in Mexico and Australia, by the end of fiscal 2011.

•         Panasonic Corp. has developed a rechargeable battery that can store 10 percent more power than a model introduced earlier. Panasonic increased the lithium-ion battery’s power to at least 3.4 amperes per hour. The consumer electronics maker said on Dec. 18 that it began mass production of a 3.1 amperes per hour rechargeable lithium- ion battery suitable for laptop computers. Panasonic estimates the global market for such batteries will increase fivefold from this year to 3.2 trillion yen (US$35 billion) in 2018, driven by expansion of low-emission vehicles and mobile electronics.

•         Panasonic has received regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission Bureau for the acquisition of SANYO Electric, under the condition that SANYO Electric will sell its portable nickel metal hydride battery business. SANYO Electric will sell the business to FDK Corp., a subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd. Panasonic has received regulatory approval from the China's Anti-Monopoly Bureau, the European Commission and the Japan Fair Trade Commission to acquire SANYO Electric.

•         Softbank Mobile will terminate its 2G (PDC) service on March 2010. Softbank has informed its 2G subscribers of the imminent discontinuation and is encouraging them to migrate to its 3G services. Rival NTT Docomo earlier announced that it would end its 2G (Mova) service but will not terminate until end-March 2012.

•         The telecommunication equipment market in Japan is expected to be approximately 3.3 trillion yen (US$36.1 billion) this year, a 8.5 percent drop from the previous year. As mobile phone upgrade cycles continue to grow longer and the global recession depresses demand, the market is forecast to hit bottom in 2010 and remain flat or show slight growth in 2011. The Communications and Information Network Association of Japan (CIAJ) forecasts total market value in 2014 would have a decrease of 6.0 percent over the figure for 2008. In 2008, the Japanese equipment market saw continued large-scale investment in infrastructure, including preparation for NGNs, but with the maturity of the mobile handset market and the launch of new sales plans, upgrade cycles grew longer and drastically reduced demand.

 

 Korea

•         South Korea's unification ministry said that a new military telecommunication line will soon link South and North Korea. It is set to be ready by early January and will promote better inter-Korean communication. South Korea started working on upgrading the existing communication equipment by installing fiber-optic cables last October. Chun Hae-sung, South Korean unification ministry spokesman said that the cable connecting operations are being conducted in the east and west sea area between the north and south. He also said that once the cable is launched, it expects more prompt and stable exchanges of information regarding crossing the border and better traffic for its people.

•         Samsung Electronics targets a 30 percent share of the Taiwanese handset market and hopes to overtake Nokia as the number one handset brand next year. The company currently has a 22 percent share on the Taiwanese handset market and is the number two supplier, which is lower than the company's market share in other regions. Samsung recently launched the Pixon12 M8910 and 18910 HD mobile phones in Taiwan. The M8910 comes with a 12-megapixel camera with a 28mm wide angle and 5x optical zoom, while the 18910 HD features an AMOLED touchscreen, 720p HD video recording, and a 8-megapixel camera.

•         Hynix Semiconductor Inc. raised its investment budget for 2010 to 2.3 trillion won (US$2 billion). Its capital spending plan for next year will be more than 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion). The expenditure for 2010 may change depending on market and business conditions. The chipmaker will use most of its 2010 investment to upgrade to a more advanced computer-memory chip processing technology and for research and development. Hynix had its first quarterly profit in two years in the third quarter on higher prices helped by an industry wide production cut.

•      CJ Shopping Co. will buy a controlling stake in On*Media Corp. for 434.5 billion won (US$369 million) to help expand its customer base. CJ will acquire a 55.17 percent of On*Media, which operates channels ranging from movies to cartoons to online games, from Orion Corp., the owner of the largest stake, and other shareholders. It will pay 6,669 won per On*Media share. The purchase will ease competition in the industry and may help CJ Group to turn around its unprofitable media businesses, said Lee Sang Hun, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities Co. CJ Group also operates CJ Media Co., a program provider, and cable operator CJ HelloVision Co.

•      Wemade Entertainment said that it reached an agreement with Samsung Electronics to cooperate in the gaming and content business. With the agreement, various gaming contents developed by Wemade will be inserted to personal computers and smartphones made by Samsung Electronics. In addition, the gaming contents of Wemade will be distributed to all around the world through the sales channel of Samsung Electronics. As the first phase of the cooperation, Samsung Electronics will manage the global service of Wemade's latest game. This agreement will give a strong momentum for the growth to Wemade which has been a frontier of the Chinese gaming market. By taking advantage of strength that the both companies have, the two companies will create a win-win situation in the global business.

•         The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) called on domain name registration management and service institutions nationwide to improve management measures to prevent websites evading supervision by changing domain names. The MIIT requires institutions to establish or update blacklist systems to keep track of owners of websites that had been shut down. It also require to keep tabs on domain name applicants to provide true and accurate registration information, and to require re-registration for domain names that are transferred to other people. This will prevent the publication of websites for which domain names are not registered, and to suspend website publication if government departments confirm that they contain pornographic content or are involved in illegal operations. This would also solve associated problems including those related to promotional partners, co-operation models, promotional models and network connections.

•         China's instant messaging (IM) user numbers will reach 277 million by the end of 2009, a 23.7 percent increase year on year. Among total users, one-third accessed IM via their mobile phones, with the number hitting 91.41 million. Most IM users’ age between 20-29 years, the number of whom amounts to 111 million, accounting for 40.2 percent of the total. The IM user age structure shows that younger people are more inclined to use the Internet application. However, the age group requires advice and instructions when using IM software, since they are vulnerable to outside influences and can't easily distinguish between healthy and harmful information. When using IM software, 75.5 percent of users believe that account number security is the most concerning issue, and 48.7 percent of users have lost their accounts to theft or forgetfulness. Meanwhile, the general security awareness among IM users is low, as 74.2 percent of them never or seldom change their account passwords.

•         Alibaba.com expects profits to climb in 2010 on the back of its growing subscriber base, rising domestic consumption and the mainland's improving foreign trade. The company also intends to target new investment opportunities. Alibaba Group made 1.2 billion yuan (US$175 million) last year. Alibaba.com's net profit fell in the past three quarters because of investments in increased marketing worldwide, key acquisitions and hiring more staff to support marketing and product development programs. The company had 10,796 employees at the end of September, up from 6,895 last year. In the past quarter, the company's deferred revenue and customer advances increased 42.1 percent.

•         ChinaVision Media Group has acquired all shares of an integrated wireless value-added channel Youline Technology Company, which will allow it to become a value-added business partner with the mobile telecommunication operators in China. Youline provides personalized information and entertainment services to mobile handset users via the internet and other modern technologies in the form of SMS, MMS, WAP, interactive voice response, Java applications, CRBT, and other value-added services. Youline holds a PRC value added telecommunication services permit and its key management team has signed agreements with the group to continue to serve the company.

•         Amoi Electronics Co. Ltd. has found a buyer for its handset manufacturing assets. Amoi had tried selling its handset manufacturing assets, including the brand and patents, in a public auction but received no bids. The assets were offered at a starting price of 146.78 million yuan (US$21.48 million) at the auction. A new joint venture between Jiuzhou Electric Group Co. Ltd. and Chinese venture capital firm China Science & Merchants Investment (Fund) Management Co. Ltd., successfully bid for the assets at 135 million yuan (US$19.76 million) during a second auction. Former Lenovo Mobile head Liu Zhijun will preside over the new JV. Amoi had invested aggressively in expanding its 3G handset manufacturing capabilities, which subsequently plunged the company into financial troubles.

•         China Telecom had a total of 191.09 million fixed-line subscribers by the end of November, after losing 1.84 million during the month, while the carrier's broadband subscriber base grew by 690,000 to 52.84 million at the end of November. China Telecom's mobile user base increased during the reporting period by 3.07 million to a total of 52.99 million, including CDMA and PHS subscribers. China Unicom had the previous day that it added 605,000 2G users in November to reach a total of 144.21 million 2G subscribers. Unicom added 801,000 3G users in November to a total 1.82 million. The company gained 325,000 broadband users in the month to reach 38.33 million, while fixed-line users fell by 1.25 million to 104.93 million.

•         China's integrated telecom tariff level will drop 9 percent in 2009 compared with that of the previous year. China has made steady progress in the structural reform of the telecommunication industry and the telecom infrastructure sharing has achieved positive results. The 3G network construction and business promotion have been in full swing after China issued 3G licenses. It is estimated that investment in 3G mobile technology will reach 143.5 billion yuan (US$21 billion) in 2009, with 285,000 3G base stations built and more than 10 million of the nationwide number of 3G users. The total telecom business will grow about 12 percent in 2010 and business revenue will increase about 4.5 percent, while the integrated telecom tariff level will drop about 9 percent. The software and IT services revenues will raise 20 percent.

•         UTStarcom Inc. which makes telecommunications terminals has signed a contract to sell production assets in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, for 950 million yuan (US$139.1 million) to the Zhongnan Group of Companies. UTStarcom will sell a 2.6 million square foot manufacturing facility, research and development department as well as related real estate to Zhongnan Group. UTStarcom will lease some of the offices from Zhongnan Group to continue its operations in Hangzhou. The deal is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

•         In November, China Mobile Ltd. added 4.58 million users from a month ago, which boosted the total number of users to 518 million. The company's 3G subscribers increased by 670,000 to 2.98 million last month. In the first 11 months of this year, the company's net addition of customers was 60.9 million. China's mobile users increased 17.3 percent year on year or 1.3 percent month on month to 717 million in November.

•         Revenue of China's telecom industry will grow 5 percent year on year in 2009, said Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology. Li predicted that the telecom sector's total business volume will increase 14 percent this year. The number of telephone users will reach 1.06 billion by the end of this year, including 740 million mobile phone subscribers, said Li. Investment in 3G network construction is expected to hit 143.5 billion yuan (US$21 billion) this year, and 285,000 base stations will be built. The number of 3G users will exceed 10 million by the end of this year. For 2010, China aims to achieve a 12 percent growth in total telecom business volume and a 4.5 percent rise in telecom business revenue, said Li, adding that overall charges in the telecom industry will drop 9 percent next year.

•         China United Network Communications' WCDMA user base exhibited faster growth than that of China Mobile's TD-SCDMA service in November. China Unicom had 1.82 million WCDMA users as of Nov. 30, 2009, an increase of 43.96 percent month-on-month, while its major competitor China Mobile saw its TD-SCDMA user base grow by 22.41 percent from October to 2.98 million. China Telecom added 3.07 million new CDMA service subscribers in November, bringing its total number of mobile phone subscribers to 52.99 million, up 5.79 percent from October. It has yet to disclose its CDMA2000 user figures for November. China Mobile's GSM network subscriber base grew by only 0.76 percent to total 515.07 million as of Nov. 30, 2009, while China Unicom's GSM network subscribers inched up by 0.42 percent from the previous month to total 144.21 million as of the end of November.

•         China Telecom will issue 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in five-year bills on the inter-bank market. This batch of bills will be issued at face value and the coupon rate will be determined during the process of book building. The proceeds from the issuance will be used to replenish working capital and repay bank loans. Both value date and payment date will be 29 December. China Merchants Bank and Agricultural Bank of China have been assigned as the main underwriters for the sale.

•         Minister of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Li Yizhong expects the total traffic volume of the telecommunications industry this year to have increased by 14 percent while telecom business revenues are expected to have grown 5 percent this year. China has invested 143.5 billion yuan (US$21 billion) the industry and built more than 285,000 base stations, the report said. Average charges for telephone services have dropped by 9 percent compared to last year. The telecommunications industry business revenues are expected to grow 4.5 percent year-on-year while traffic volume is set to increase 12 percent and telecommunication charges slide another 9 percent. Revenues for the software service industry are expected to increase by 20 percent.

·          Beijing-based online game company Fantasy Age has raised US$40 million from several investment companies in its first round of financing. The capital raised will be spent on game development over the next two years. The company has conducted three rounds of technology testing of its in-house developed oriental myth-themed online game Xiyou Tianxia.

•      LDK Solar has agreed with VMS Investment Group to sell between US$50 million and US$80 million of shares in a to-be-created subsidiary which will hold and operate LDK Solar's polysilicon business. The polysilicon business is valued at US$1.30 billion to US$1.65 billion. The investment is expected to close by the end of March 2010. LDK Solar expects to increase its total annualized polysilicon capacity to 18,000 metric tons (MT) by the end of 2010. LDK Solar said that it is offering 18.9 million American depositary shares (ADS), to raise net proceeds of approximately US$164 million, of which the company will use US$120 million to pay off short term debt. The company had a net working capital deficit of US$1.15 billion as of September 30, 2009, and faced uncertainties in obtaining additional funding for capital expenditures and working capital. LDK Solar will use around US$30 million dollars from the share issue to fund on-going construction of the polysilicon plant, as well as expanding its module business, with a target capacity of 1.5GW.

•      JA Solar’s Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program, effective Dec. 14, 2009. Under this program, JA Solar is approved to repurchase up to an aggregate of US$75 million of its ADSs representing its ordinary shares. The purchases will be made subject to restrictions relating to volume, price and timing. The timing and extent of any purchases will depend upon market conditions, the trading price of our ADSs and other factors. 

•         Hitachi Ltd. may need more funds to finance a revamp after selling a record 350.7 billion yen (US$3.9 billion) in stock and bonds. Hitachi needs money to finance factory closures and job cuts to focus on growing businesses such as trains and medical systems. Hitachi aims to reverse a multi-decade strategy of expanding into everything from televisions to vacuum cleaners and nuclear reactors after reporting a record loss for a Japanese manufacturer last fiscal year. The company will reduce about 200 units, merge its unprofitable chip subsidiary with a rival and relocate workers in its plasma-display and automotive units to cut 260 billion yen (US$2.9 billion) in costs this year.

•         Hitachi Ltd. has bought software assets related to next-generation mobile communications systems from Nortel Networks Corp. for US$10 million. Hitachi said the acquisition will help its development of equipment for Long Term Evolution mobile technology, a fourth generation technology that promises faster download speeds than third-generation mobile technology. The acquisition includes intellectual property, equipment and other assets. Parts of Nortel's assets have been sold in a number of auctions after Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January this year. L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. said it would buy Nortel's global system for mobile communications, or GSM, business in the U.S and Canada for US$70 million, after buying the bulk of its second-generation mobile networks.

•         eAccess will turn its mobile affiliate EMOBILE into a wholly-owned subsidiary by the end of March next year via a stock swap. Under the plan, each EMOBILE share will be exchanged for 1.6 to 1.7 eAccess shares. A final agreement is to be signed in mid-January next year, subject to shareholder approval at extraordinary meetings in late March. Currently, eAccess holds 38.28 percent of the voting rights in EMOBILE. The deal would combine the fixed broadband and mobile phone service businesses of the two companies. Through integrating facilities and sales channels, eAccess aims to promote efficiency and growth in Japan's highly mature and competitive telecoms market. eAccess' ADSL has faced increased competition from fiber-based internet-connection services, being aggressively rolled out by the incumbent NTT.

•         NEC Electronics Corp. is expanding Chinese sales of system chips used in set-top boxes for receiving satellite broadcasts. Working with local design firm Beijing Cycle Century Digital Technology Co., the Japanese electronics producer has developed a module based on its Emma series of system chips that combines semiconductors, electronic components and application software in a single package. Emma contains functions to reproduce image data distributed via satellite transmission. The new system chips conform to ABS-S, China's unique satellite broadcast standard, while also meeting set-top-box makers' specifications. The set-top-box market in China is expanding due to government policies to enhance communications infrastructure, such as telephones and the Internet, as well as enable mobile and broadband communications in mountainous inland areas and remote regions. With demand for more than 4 million set-top boxes projected in the next few years, NEC Electronics is anticipating a surge in orders for Emma. It is looking to expand sales to communications companies that handle set-top boxes, with the aim of realizing around 15 billion yen (US$166.4 million), in system chip sales in fiscal 2010.

•         Panasonic Corp., the world’s largest plasma-television maker, acquired 50.19 percent of Sanyo Electric Co., the world’s largest maker of lithium-ion batteries, for 403.8 billion yen (US$4.6 billion). The company purchased 3,082 million shares in the public offering it started on Nov. 5. Panasonic is strengthening energy-related businesses such as lithium-ion batteries as television sales growth slows because of intensified competition with Samsung Electronics. The company estimates the global lithium-ion battery market will increase fivefold by 2018 from this year.

•         Domestic shipments of mobile phones in Japan surged by 95.2 percent year-on-year to 2.1 million units in October. This is the second consecutive month the shipments increased. The increase is mostly due to record low shipments in October 2008 of 1.08 million units. PHS handset shipments went up 1.9 percent o 64,000 units while shipments of mobile handsets went up 101 percent to 2.04 million units in October this year.

•         Japan ended November with 110.18 million mobile subscribers, up by 282,800 from October. Softbank Mobile again led in subscriber additions in November due to the popularity of Apple's iPhone that Softbank sells in Japan as well as brisk sales of new handsets with a function to connect to wireless local area networks, which debuted in November. Softbank added 87,500 new subscribers, bringing its total to 21.50 million followed by Emobile which gained 70,500 new customers, to reach a total of 2.05 million. KDDI ended November with 31.33 million mobile customers after signing-up 69,200 new customers, and NTT Docomo won 55,600 new subscribers to reach a total of 55.29 million. PHS provider Willcom lost 38,400 subscribers, bringing its total to 4.35 million. Willcom saw the number of customers using its 'Core 3G' service rise to 72,000, up from 65,800 in October.

•         Accenture Japan and Cisco Systems have extended the scope of their strategic alliance by expanding a virtual group to include a team focused on the Japanese market. The Accenture & Cisco Business Group will provide customers with design, configuration and operation services that integrate unified communications and collaboration tools into multiple applications across companies' information technology infrastructures. The virtual group will target customers in all sectors, ranging from communications, manufacturing, health care, financial services, and resources and energy to government and social infrastructure. The services focus on data centre, infrastructure and network, unified communications, and collaboration and customer contact transformation services. The virtual group will provide consulting services for data centre optimization that support ERP platforms and cloud computing. The services are based on the Cisco Unified Computing System.

•         Equinix has appointed Kei Furuta as the managing director for Equinix Japan. In this role, Furuta will be responsible for the overall performance of Equinix's operations in Japan, where the company currently operates two data centres. Previously Furuta served as regional head at AboveNet and Sprint where he managed operations in Japan and Korea. He was also a founder of Energy Initiative Japan. David Wilkinson, the former managing director for Equinix Japan, will take on the new regional role of senior director, business development, Equinix Asia Pacific, to oversee the company's growing business from financial services companies in the region.

 

•         SK Telecom Co. has nearly concluded talks with Hana Financial Group to buy a stake in Hana Bank's credit card unit. This move is expected to help the mobile carrier boost profit by diversifying its business away from South Korea's highly saturated local telecom market. SK Telecom, South Korea's largest mobile carrier, will buy a 49 percent stake in the credit card unit for about 400 billion won (US$344 million). Hana Financial and SK Telecom will hold board meetings and will announce the final business tie-up plan afterward. Analysts largely welcomed the move and said they expect other domestic telecom giants, which have been under severe pressure in recent years to yield profit from the highly saturated and competitive market, to follow suit.

•         Mobile telephone subscriptions are spreading fast and due to reach 120,000 early next year in communist North Korea, where an Egyptian provider started a service a year ago. The project with Egypt's Orascom, a joint venture called Koryolink has set up a third-generation mobile network. Orascom’s manager, whose name wasn't given, was quoted as saying that cell phone use was not only spreading among the political and business elite, but also citizens in the showcase capital city, Pyongyang. North Korea began a mobile phone service in November 2002, but shut it down without explanation 18 months later and began recalling handsets. This year North Korea's official media has said the country was expanding its telecom network nationwide, laying fiber-optic cables from the capital to all provinces and renovating its broadcasting sector. Mobile phones in use in Pyongyang are made in neighboring China and priced at 200 euros (about US$300) each.

•         Chinese regulators have closed down hundreds of video sharing Web sites in a new push to control Internet content. Several well-known Web sites were either closed down or ordered to delete all links to downloaded films or TV series in the past week. Most content offered by peer-to-peer Web sites violates copyright and isn't above board. The State Administration of Video Film and Television ordered it to shut down because it has no license to provide audio and video content. UUbird.com would delete all links for downloading TV series and films by mid-February to firmly support and comply with the state's laws and regulations. As of Nov. 30, authorities had shut down 414 video and audio Web sites this year for operating without a license or for containing pornography, copyright-violating content or other "harmful" information.

•         Google China will have a new business strategy, under which it will use its international technology to serve Google users in China. Google China intends to reduce investment into wholly localized products but continue to offer its global products in China. Employees including tech chiefs and project managers from webpage, maps, mobile search and other teams have left in the past few months. Google China planned to suspend its free weather forecast short messaging service in 2010.

·          Focus Media made a net loss of US$127.6 million compared to a loss of US$23 million in the second quarter of 2009, and against net income of US$51.4 million for the third quarter of 2008. Total net revenue for the quarter was US$166.6 million, declining 3 percent sequentially and 26 percent year-on-year. Poster frame advertising revenues amounted to US$22.1 million, declined by 17 percent quarter-on-quarter and 50 percent year-on-year, while the company's in-store network revenues came to US$7.6 million a 16 percent decline on a quarterly basis but representing an annual increase of 7 percent. The company's LCD display network revenues, previously listed under discontinued operations in the last two quarters in preparation for a proposed merger with Sina, were US$56.0 million for the third quarter of 2009, up 4 percent from the second quarter but declined 32 percent against the comparable period last year. The company incurred a depreciation expense of US$17 million for the LCD display assets to be sold to Sina after the two companies abandoned the merger at the end of September.

·          NetDragon will release a new in-house developed 2.5D MMORPG, Vampire Online, in early 2010. The first-round alpha testing is scheduled to begin in the first week of December. NetDragon will launch 2.5D Chinese fantasy MMORPG Tian Yuan, 2.5D Q-style turn-based MMORPG Disney Fantasy Online, and the English version of Eudemons Online expansion "Demon Rising" before the end of the year. Games in the pipeline include CJ7 Online and Dungeon Keeper Online to be launched in 2010 and a new version of in-house 3D MMORPG Ultima Online in 2011.

•      CDC Corp.'s online games subsidiary CDC Games said that its Chief Executive Officer Peter Yip has resigned and been replaced by Simon Kwong Chi Wong. CDC Games did not disclose a reason for Yip's departure, but would continue to serve as vice chairman of CDC Games' board of directors. Wong will continue to serve on CDC Corp's and CDC Games' boards of directors, positions he has held since 2005.

•      Suntech Power Holdings has signed three long-term supply agreements for up to 490MW of modules to be delivered over the next three years to three European customers. The contract stipulates that Suntech will supply 115MW in 2010, 155MW in 2011 and 220MW in 2012.

•         Sony Corp. Chairman Howard Stringer wants to remain the company’s chief for at least three years through March 2013 to meet a turnaround plan delayed by the global recession and the yen’s surge to a 14-year high against the dollar. Sony last month pushed back key profitability targets as the maker of Bravia televisions battles to recover from its first back-to-back annual losses since its 1958 listing. Stringer will continue streamlining Sony to compete against South Korean electronics makers such as Samsung Electronics Co. Sony projected in October the yen would average 90 to the dollar in the six-month period beginning Oct. 1. The company’s losses reached about 1 billion yen (US$11 million) in annual operating profit for every yen gain against the dollar.

•         Toshiba Business Solutions Inc. (TBS) announced that industry veteran Jim Hawkins has joined Toshiba as vice president of Operations US. Most recently, Hawkins was senior vice president of Field Operations for Danka, where he oversaw approximately 250 employees and led an executive team of nine direct reports.

•         Panasonic Corp. will invest US$1 billion by 2012 in a plan to make its principal business equipping homes and buildings with solar power and energy-saving technologies. The move focuses on solar-panel and energy-storage technology that Panasonic will gain from its purchase of Sanyo Electric Co., coupled with systems that Panasonic has invented. Panasonic is shifting focus as growth slows in its main consumer-electronics and appliances businesses, where it competes against Samsung Electronics Co. The change coincides with a worldwide move toward more energy-efficient technologies, a goal that’s leading more than 190 countries to meet in Copenhagen to discuss cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. The new technology will let consumers monitor their own electricity use and display the data on television sets. The system will be able to connect and monitor all of the appliances in a house, and the solar panels may produce enough clean power to offset any carbon dioxide created from other power the appliances use.

•         Tokyo Electron Ltd. expects orders this quarter to exceed the company’s forecast, helped by demand from memory chipmakers. Projected by Credit Suisse Group AG, bookings for chip and flat-panel gear in the three months ending Dec. 31 will be close to the 105 billion yen (US$1.2 billion), 12 percent higher than the 93.8 billion yen (US$1.03 billion) predicted by the company in October. Global sales of chip gear will probably rise 53 percent in 2010 after slumping 46 percent this year, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International forecast on Dec. 1.

•         Orders for Japanese-made semiconductor-manufacturing equipment placed by domestic and overseas chipmakers in October logged the first rise since February 2007, as chipmakers began updating their facilities in view of recovering demand. The value of the orders climbed 66 percent in the reporting month from a year earlier. Sales of the equipment also increased about 8 percent, marking the first rise in 23 months. After slacking due to oversupply in the chip market and the global financial crisis, demand for semiconductors has recovered due to the spread of digital electronics appliances to emerging economies and increased shipments for new personal computers, which was partly stimulated by the release of Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 7 operating system.

•         Following its planned purchase of rechargeable-battery maker Sanyo Electric Co., Panasonic Corp. is in talks with about 10 automakers to supply lithium-ion batteries as demand for energy-efficient vehicles grows. The discussions include companies from the U.S., India, Europe and Japan. The world’s largest plasma-television maker offered 403 billion yen (US$4.6 billion) to buy control of Sanyo. The company estimates the global lithium-ion battery market will increase fivefold by 2018 from this year. Automakers are shifting to develop electric cars and hybrid plug-in models that use lithium-ion cells, which are lighter and more powerful than nickel-metal hydride batteries currently used in most hybrids.

•         NTT Docomo has bought back 154,065 of its own shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for 19.99 billion yen (US$220 million). The share re-purchase program was approved early November and allowed the company to buy back up to 160,000 shares for an aggregate price of up to 20 billion yen (US$221 million) between 10 and 30 November.

 

•         Neowiz has obtained exclusive operating rights for The9's in-house developed Three Kingdoms-themed side-scrolling fighting casual game World of Fight ("Ming Jiang San Guo") in Korea. This is the first time that The9 has licensed an in-house developed game to the Korean market. The9 licensed World of Fight to Taiwanese online game company Gamania Digital Entertainment (6180.TW) for operation in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

•      Sales of Samsung Electronics’ full touchscreen mobile phones surpassed 50 million units so far this year. Samsung Electronics said it shipped its 50 millionth full touchscreen mobile phone at the end of November. It has sold 40 million units out of the total from January through November. Samsung has sold its largest share of full touch devices in Europe with 19 million units, followed by the U.S. with 6.3 million, China with 3.4 million and 3.0 million in its home market.

•         China's software industry revenues grew 20.2 percent year-on-year in the first ten months of 2009. Sales of software products were up 20.6 percent year-on-year, while technology services revenue grew 26 percent year-on-year.

•         CDC Software Corp. has signed an agreement to acquire gomembers, Inc, which provides software as a service (SaaS) and on-site solutions for non-profit and non-governmental organizations. 

•         China recorded 14.5 billion yuan (US$2.1 million) in online advertising revenues in the first three quarters of the year. Advertising revenues for the three months between July and September boosted 17.9 percent year-on-year and 26.2 percent quarter-on-quarter.

•         According to the Digitimes reports citing a survey by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the number of Chinese internet users connecting through a mobile handset or data card went up to 181 million at the end of August this year, a 53.4 percent increase the end of last year. Mobile internet users accessed the internet 2.2 times for a total of 97 minutes per day. Users of 3G handsets accessed the internet more often at five times and longer at 105 minutes per day. The most popular activity was browsing for news of 90.8 percent, followed by online chat of 47.9 percent, and search of 46.9 percent.

•         Made-in-China.com is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) on a mainland stock exchange to raise 1.2 billion yuan (US$175.8 million). Company Chairman and General Manager Shen Jinhua will hold about 80 percent equity interest in the company. Made-in-China.com has a market share of 2.9 percent.

•         According to the Digitimes who cited a study by Analysys International, China Mobile was the largest provider of mobile e-mail services, accounting for 72.26 percent of mobile e-mail users. China Mobile also accounted for 77.91 percent of the revenues from mobile e-mail services. There were 96.82 million mobile e-mail users in Q3, with total revenues of 386.4 million yuan (US$56.5 million). Following China Mobile with a market share of 16.09 percent is China Unicom, and in third place is Google China as mobile e-mail service provider with a market share of 2.50 percent.

•         Linktone had third-quarter net revenues boost to US$13.3 million from US$16 million in the year-earlier quarter. Data-related services revenue was US$7.8 million. Audio-related services revenues accounted for 36 percent or US$4.9 million of total revenues. Other services accounted for 7 percent of gross revenues, or US$1.1 million. Net income from continuing operations fell to US$0.6 million from a net profit of US$1.5 million. Gross margin fell to 39 percent from 53 percent previously. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to US$78.86 million at the end of Q3. For the fiscal fourth quarter, the company expects gross revenues to be approximately US$14-15 million.

•         According to Interfax, Lenovo Mobile Communication Technology Co. Ltd. ranked fifth among handset manufacturers in terms of domestic GSM handset shipments in China in October. Lenovo Mobile was the only Chinese company among the top five in October, shipping 423,000 GSM handsets to domestic distributors. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Motorola. held the top four positions in October, shipping 4.13 million, 1.95 million, 982,000 and 776,000 units, respectively. LG Electronics, which ranked fifth in September, fell out of the top five. Chinese manufacturers held the top three positions in terms of domestic CDMA handset shipments. ZTE retained its leading position, shipping 312,000 units in October, while Huawei Technologies and Haier Group, ranked second and third with shipments of 267,000 and 196,000 units, respectively during the same time.

•         Lenovo Group will pay US$200 million to reacquire its mobile phone business that it spun off one and half years ago, from a group of investors led by Hony Capital. Lenovo spun off its mobile phone unit Lenovo Mobile Communication Technology Ltd in 2008 for US$100 million. The acquisition will enable it to strengthen its position in the rapidly growing mobile internet market in China.

•         According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China ended October with 729.537 million mobile telephony subscribers, 16.30 percent increase year-on-year. User density in October stood at 54.3 percent and mobile users sent 67.26 billion SMS messages in the month. Furthermore, the country had 321.38 million fixed-line subscribers, with a user density of 24.4 percent. The number of broadband subscribers climbed 22.71 percent year-on-year to 100.89 million, while the number of dial-up subscribers stood at 8.94 million.

•         Qualcomm Inc.'s China operations generated US$2.3 billion in revenue, accounting for 23 percent of Qualcomm's total revenue for the fiscal full year ended September 27, 2009. The company had full year revenues of US$10.42 billion. Qualcomm invested in Suzhou-based mobile social networking site Bedo.cn.

·          Actoz Soft may invest in small Asian game firms or enter foreign markets jointly with its parent. Actoz Soft, which developed the popular multiplayer online game "Legend of Mir II," aims for about 50 percent sales growth next year. The firm focuses on overseas markets as online games enjoy sharp growth in China and increasing popularity in Western countries. The online game industry's revenue is expected to grow 21 percent to more than US$13 billion in 2010, while revenue from video games is seen falling 5 percent. Actoz Soft generates about 90 percent of sales overseas. It benefits from its relationship with Shanda, which services several Actoz games over its strong Chinese network. Foreign companies face increasingly tougher regulation in China, which has the largest number of Internet users in the world. Shanda Games, China's No. 2 online game company, was carved out of media firm Shanda Interactive Entertainment in September to expand overseas.

·          Tencent Holdings Limited said that sales revenue of China's online gaming industry is expected to reach 27.5 billion yuan (US$4.03 billion) in 2009. The third quarter financial reports of major Chinese online game companies including Sohu, Tencent, NetEase and Shanda, showed most of them recorded a 60 percent or even higher increase in gross profit. The sales revenue of China's online gaming industry reached 18.38 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) in 2008, up 76.6 percent from 2007. An executive from the gaming department of NetEase attributed the continuous growth of the online gaming industry to the development of Internet technologies and preferential policies from the government. Chinese online game companies' expansion overseas also contributed to the growth.

·          Kingsoft Corp. and Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. is expected to make an official announcement that they will work together to jointly operate online games. Kingsoft is currently strengthening its game operation capacity and will launch 10 new self-developed games in 2010. Such joint operation partnership is expected to become a trend as China's online game market matures. The outcome of Kingsoft's partnership with Shanda is still unclear, as CGA platform users are different from Kingsoft's target user base for its JX game series, which includes the JW. Kingsoft generated total revenue of 162.8 million yuan (US$23.83 million) from online game operation in the third quarter of 2009, boosted 9 percent year-on-year.

·          Take-Two anticipates that its results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 will be below its prior guidance mainly due to the performance of its Major League Baseball® titles in the fourth quarter, which reduced earnings by approximately US$0.09 per share, along with an impairment of capitalized software based on sales estimates for its MLB titles in fiscal 2010, representing approximately US$0.05 per share. The company also incurred inventory write downs in its distribution business primarily related to prior generation software, representing approximately $0.07 per share, and realized lower than expected initial performance of several of its key holiday releases. Additionally, on a GAAP basis, Take-Two expects to record non-cash impairment charges of up to approximately US$15 million on its distribution segment (equivalent to US$0.19 per share in the fourth quarter and US$0.20 per share for the full fiscal year 2009), in connection with the company's annual assessment of goodwill. These amounts are excluded from the estimated fourth quarter and fiscal year non-GAAP EPS provided in the chart below.

•      An auction agency in southern China's Fujian province would arrange sale of integrated assets held by the Amoi Electronics at a reference 146.78 million yuan (US$21.4 million) price. The assets include the Amoi brand, patent, 75 percent shares of Amoi Electronics' subsidiary Amoi Mobile, management system, manufacturing and testing equipment, as well as inventories that relate to the handset business. The sale Amoi Electronics' assets were evaluated at about 800 million yuan (US$117.1 million).

•      SinoHub, Inc.’s total revenues for the 2009 third quarter increased more than 28 percent to US$36.2 million from US$28.2 million for the 2008 third quarter. Revenues from electronic component sales, including procurement-fulfillment and spot component sales, increased more than 27 percent to US$34.3 million for the 2009 third quarter from US$26.9 million for the same period last year. Revenues from the company's supply chain management services business climbed more than 50 percent to US$1.9 million for the 2009 third quarter from US$1.3 million last year.

•      Trina Solar Ltd. will supply an estimated number of 8 megawatts of photovoltaic (PV) modules to the Chinese domestic market. The Chinese government approved its project of about 2 MW under the Golden Sun program. This project expects to install approximately 20 MW of solar power capacity in every province of the country. The 8 MW sales deal was to supply PV modules at predetermined prices. The company had sales deal with PROINSO for 108 megawatts worth of solar panels to boost its market share in Europe.

 

•         Softbank Corp. is interested in buying stakes in Indian and Chinese companies. The company is eyeing companies engaged in mobile applications and technology. Softbank bought an additional stake in U.S. application provider RockYou Inc. for US$50 million. Softbank has a 33 percent stake in Alibaba Group, the parent of business-to-business online platform Alibaba.com Ltd. The Japanese company is also the single largest shareholder of Yahoo Japan, with a 44 percent stake.

 

•         Hitachi Ltd. is raising up to US$4.6 billion to cut debt as it seeks to turnaround its sprawling businesses and also invests in new growth drivers. The capital raising, the company's first in 27 years, follows similar moves by NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp., and sent Hitachi's shares down 8.5 percent in the biggest drop in six months even though markets expected the fund raising. The company might be forced to tap markets again and that Hitachi had sought to seek money before it could form a realistic plan for recovery. Hitachi is headed for its fourth straight annual loss. The group is seeing a recovery in its hard drives business and strong sales of its metals, cables and construction machinery but this has not been enough to counter the impact of losses in its flat TVs and semiconductors businesses.

•         NEC Corp. sold 117.6 billion yen (US$1.3 billion) in new shares to help fund businesses and pay off debt. The company, forecasting a return to profit this fiscal year, seeks funding to invest in the development of advanced telecommunications gear and services and to help shed its money- losing chip unit. NEC joins companies from Nomura Holdings Inc. to Malaysia’s Maxis Communications Bhd. in pursuing sales as equity markets rebound from the rout caused by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy last year. The company will sell as many as 537.5 million new shares to Japanese and overseas investors. The sale will increase NEC’s outstanding shares by 28 percent.

•         Elpida Memory, Inc. said that Shuichi Otsuka became the new president of subsidiary Akita Elpida in place of the retiring Takayuki Watanabe. While serving as president of Akita Elpida Mr. Otsuka will also continue as Chief Operating Officer for the parent Elpida and serve on Elpida’s board of directors. With his retirement from Akita Elpida Mr. Watanabe now moves to Elpida to take charge of improving TSV packaging development.

•         Jupiter Telecommunications ended October with 3.26 million customers, up 11.8 percent year-on-year. Combined revenue generating units for cable television, internet access and telephony services reached 5.89 million, boosted 12.5 percent since end-October 2008, and the bundle ratio (average number of services received per subscribing household) increased to 1.81 from 1.80 a year earlier. J:Com's television subscriber base stood at 2.59 million in October, of which 2.29 million are digital television subscribers. The number of internet subscribers went up to 1.57 million from 1.36 million in October last year, and the number of telephony customers climbed to 1.73 million from 1.53 million.

•         Sony Corp. Chairman Howard Stringer forecast 3D movies, pictures and games will be the electronics maker’s next US$10 billion business, challenging investors and analysts who say the technology isn’t ready to become mainstream. 3D-related products, excluding content, will generate more than 1 trillion yen (US$11 billion) in the 12 months ending March 2013. The company will begin offering TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles that adopt the technology starting next fiscal year. Stringer’s bet that 3D will spread from the movie theater to the living room highlights part of his strategy to revive a company that’s forecasting its first back-to-back annual losses in half a century.

 

 

•         Bain Capital agreed to acquire Citigroup’s Japanese call centre operator BellSystem24 for 100 billion yen (US$1.1 billion) as part of its growth strategy. Citigroup Capital Partners Japan, a subsidiary of Citi, will receive cash consideration for its 93.5 percent stake in BellSystem24. The transaction is expected to close on December 30, 2009. BellSystem24 is a top player in the Japanese call centre market. Citi has sold its Indian IT outsourcing arm Citi Technology Services to Wipro for US$127 million, and Indian back office division to Tata Consultancy Services for approximately US$505 million.

 

•         Samsung Electronics and LG Display (LGD) have adopted similar investment strategies in the Chinese market, hedging the risk of overcapacity. Samsung Electronics had planned to set up a LCD panel plant in Suzhou, a city in eastern China's Jiangsu province. The project's investment budget amounted to US$2.25 billion. Samsung is now seeking to establish a joint venture with a registered capital of 800 million dollars to complete the project. The plant will produce LCD TV panels based on 7.5-generation technology. Prior to Samsung's announcement of its plan in October, LG Display will set up a 4-billion-dollar LCD production based on the 8-generation technology in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. LGD has already set up a joint venture with the Guangzhou government and China TV Manufacturing Company, in which it holds 70 percent of the total equity. Based on the share holding proportion, LGD will invest US$2.8 billion in this project.

•         According to the Korea Herald reports citing unnamed sources, Korean mobile content developer Entaz will become an MVNO in 2010. Entaz has signed a memorandum of understanding with KT, which will see the companies work together on MVNO-related issues. Entaz will also develop a portal downloadable by KT subscribers which will enable them to buy games and other mobile content. The Korea Communications Commission has been pushing for MVNO regulations as one of the measures to reduce prices in the telecommunications sector.

•         Hynix Semiconductor Inc. will again seek to sell part of their stake in the world's second-largest memory chip maker through an open bidding process. The move comes after Hyosung Group decided to drop its bid for a 28.07 percent stake in Hynix Semiconductor amid rumors its political ties influenced the bid. A shareholder consultive meeting will make a decision on the resale issue by November 25. An open bid will be held should 75 percent or more of the shareholders vote for it.

•      South Korea's exports in the information and technology and tech sectors are expected to rise sharply next year as a global economic recovery would drive up corporate IT budgets. Lee Gam-yeol, vice president of the Korea Electronics Association forecasts that South Korea's IT and tech exports will amount to US$133 billion next year, boosted 11.1 percent from this year, with the annual industry production expected to rise 7.7 percent from a year ago to 237 trillion won (US$205.3 billion) in 2009. Some market experts, however, have been skeptical about the forecast. Steve Ballmer, head of the U.S. computer software powerhouse Microsoft Corp., earlier said a global economic downturn forced corporations to cut back on IT spending and corporations would still maintain a tight IT budget in the coming years regardless of the economic condition.

•      GS Home Shopping Inc. signed a contract to buy a stake in India's TV18 HSN Holdings Ltd. to make inroads into the world's second-most populous country. Under the contract, GS Home Shopping will purchase a 15-percent stake in the holding company of an Indian cable TV shopping channel for 21.4 billion won (US$18.4 million).

•         Sina's net revenues climbed 7 percent quarter-on-quarter on an improving advertising market to reach US$96.4 million, surpassing the company's previous guidance of between US$91 million and US$94 million. Third quarter net revenues were 8.5 percent below one year ago. Sina's net income fell 11.6 percent year-on-year but increased 25.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to US$16.7 million in the third quarter. Advertising revenues was US$63.8 million in the quarter. Ad revenues boosted 10 percent and exceeded company guidance of between US$60 million and US$62 million.

•         Acorn International had net income of US$2.7 million for the third quarter of 2009, compared to a US$10.8 million loss in the third quarter of 2008 and US$11.4 million income in the previous quarter. Net revenues were US$91.8 million, up from US$71.1 million and US$49 million in the year- and quarter-ago periods, respectively. Direct sales net revenues declined 7.5 percent year-on-year to US$42 million, due to lower mobile phone sales. Given the divestiture of Yimeng in the second quarter, lower mobile phone sales and the higher cost of flash memory, Acorn lowered its full year forecast to net revenues in the range of US$280 million to US$290 million.

•         China Unicom’s average revenue per user (APRU) for its 3G services is rising, passing the 100 yuan (US$14.65) mark and more than double that of its GSM service. The company's GSM ARPU had fallen to around 41.6 yuan (US$6.08) in the first nine months of 2009. Unicom believes that there was still growth potential for voice services in China's rural areas. Unicom's 3G network covered 285 cities in China at the end of October, and would expand to 335 cities by the end of 2009. In the first half of 2010, the network would cover all cities and major towns in the country. Unicom and rivals China Mobile, and China Telecom are launching 3G services this year, which will increase competitive pressure to attract subscribers to the more lucrative service. Rising competition and expenses associated with the 3G rollout was a prime reason that all three carriers had disappointing quarterly earnings last month.

•         JPMorgan has disposed 45.2 million shares of China Telecom, at HK$3.54 (US$.45) apiece, on 10 November 2009. The total consideration amounted to HK$160 million (US$20.6 million). JPMorgan's shareholding in the company has then dropped to 5.85 percent.

 

 

•         ZTE will take about a fifth of the global market for wireless mobile equipment based on the GSM standard, using financial assistance from Beijing to fund its rapid expansion. The company's revenue from GSM equipment sales had doubled over each of the last few years, making ZTE the world's third-biggest vendor behind global leader Ericsson and Chinese rival Huawei, Zhao Yizhe, vice-president in charge of GSM equipment told Reuters. His division was on track to match the doubling pace in the first three quarters of this year, and aimed to maintain a similar high growth rate in 2010. ZTE has risen from relative obscurity over the last decade to become one of the world's top sellers of equipment used to build mobile networks. Sales of equipment based on GSM account for about 10 percent of ZTE's total revenue and a third of its wireless equipment sales. Zhao’s division's contract sales this year would top 10 billion yuan (US$1.47 billion).

•         China Mobile Ltd.'s average revenue per user may be pressured further as the company adds customers in rural areas, but it will work to control costs as business growth slows. China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile operator by subscribers, said it will lower its capital expenditure in the coming few years. The company is working on an A-share listing in mainland China. China's government will allow foreign companies, including red chips like China Mobile, to list on the mainland's exchanges.

•         Huawei is building 25 networks worldwide based on next-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology, aggressively expanding in an area that may help to propel it past Ericsson to become the world's top telecoms equipment maker. Huawei was building commercial LTE networks for European carriers Telenor and TeliaSonera, and trial ones for the likes of Vodafone and T-Mobile, Ying Weimin, president of LTE products said. Huawei was also pursuing LTE business with two top U.S. carriers, Verizon and AT&T, in the tough North American market where it has made few inroads to date. He expected the world's first commercial-use LTE networks to launch sometime in the second or third quarters of next year, aimed at serving growing consumer demand for faster speeds on wireless broadband services.

·          Deputy director of State Administration of Radio Film and Television of China, Zhang Hongsen reports that China's domestic movie box office is expected to reach surge 40 percent in 2009, rising to become the world's third largest film producer. Zhang said that China's film industry, production and market capacity has been growing rapidly. China produced approximately 400 feature movies which made China the world's top ten film makers. The Chinese film industry in contrary increased the number of feature film produced despite the worldwide financial crisis. It is expected that the production will reach 450 in 2010.

·          Giant Interactive Group will formally start its reform of property rights by establishing five subsidiaries. The company holds 51 percent shares in each subsidiary and the members of the projects' core team hold the rest 49 percent. These five subsidiaries have full decision-making autonomy, including the research and development (R&D) of projects and domination of the manpower, material and financial resources. The core team numbers and the parent share profits gained from each project in proportion to their respective contributions. The aim of the company's reform of property rights is to let the R&D teams become their own "boss", stimulating their entrepreneurial potential and to achieve win-win results with the subsidiaries.

 

•      ReneSola Ltd. had a third quarter net loss of US$10.2 million. Gross margin fell to 3.4 percent in the period as the company worked through higher cost inventory as wafer prices fell. Gross margin was 21.2 percent in the year-ago period and 5.1 percent in the second quarter of 2009; the company originally anticipated third quarter gross margin to be similar to that of the second quarter. Third quarter net revenues fell 34.7 percent year-on-year but shot up 70.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to US$140.9 million, topping the high end of company guidance of between US$130 million to US$140 million. Shipments climbed 71 percent sequentially to 146.9MW in the period, the highest quarterly shipments in ReneSola history.

•      LDK Solar Co Ltd agreed to sell a 15 percent stake in its Chinese polysilicon plant to Jiangxi International Trust and Investment Co Ltd for about US$219 million, lifting its shares as much as 14 percent after hours. LDK makes silicon wafers for the solar power industry and is working to ramp up a plant for polysilicon, a prime commodity in the solar industry, as part of its strategy to reduce costs. Prices for polysilicon and for solar panels have tumbled in the last year. The deal helps LDK in terms of alleviating their liquidity.

•      Canadian Solar Inc. recorded net income of US$25.3 million in the third quarter of 2009, or US$0.69 per diluted share, compared to net income of US$11.1 million in the year-ago period and US$17.7 million in the previous quarter. Gross margin was 16.3 percent in the three-month period, compared to 15.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008 and 20.2 percent in the second quarter of 2009. Net revenues for the quarter were US$213.1 million, up 87 percent sequentially but declined 15.6 percent from the year-ago period. Shipments climbed 113 percent quarter-on-quarter to hit a record 102.6MW. Canadian Solar reiterated fourth quarter shipment guidance of approximately 128-138MW with gross margin in the high teens, as well as previously issued full year guidance of between 295-305MW. Europe continued to be Canadian Solar's largest market in the third quarter, with sales growing 179 percent sequentially to US$186.6 million.

•      VanceInfo Technologies Inc. had net revenues of US$40.2 million in the third quarter of 2009, up 45.2 percent year-on-year. The company attributed the increase primarily to the expansion of its China business, which accounted for US$18.8 million, or 46.7 percent, of net revenues in the quarter. Research and development services produced 57.7 percent, or US$23.18 million, representing annual growth of 41.9 percent. VanceInfo generated a net income of US$5.8 million in the third quarter of 2009, an increase of 32.8 percent on an annual basis.

•      Kingsoft Corp. said that 3.03 million viruses were created affecting 1.24 million Web sites in China during the month of October. Viruses affected 20.81 million computers, while Trojan viruses affected 1.24 million Web sites in October. There has been a trend of planting viruses and Trojans in software add-ons and Web pages, and urged Internet users to be more cautious when clicking unknown sites and links online. China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team and Coordination Center estimated in June that viruses and related Internet security breeches cause over 7.6 billion yuan (US$1.11 billion) in losses to businesses annually.

 

•      Alcatel-Lucent SA said that the Asia-Pacific region, particularly India and China, will remain the company's major drivers of revenue growth. Revenue contribution from the Asia-Pacific region will likely rise further from third-quarter's 19 percent, Sean Dolan, president for Alcatel-Lucent Asia-Pacific, told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. Growth in the region will be driven by demand for convergence of fixed-line and wireless networks as carriers try to improve cost efficiencies, and demand for third-generation mobile services. The company is working with China Unicom Ltd., China Mobile Ltd., and China Telecom Corp. to combine their wireless and wireline networks as a way to improve cost.

•         Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. had a 38.2 percent decline in its fiscal second-quarter net profit, as demand for its mobile phone services slackened. NTT had a 142.7 billion yen (US$1.6 million) net profit, as revenue declined to 2.4 trillion yen (US$26 billion). NTT's lackluster results mainly reflect weak performance at its unit, NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's biggest mobile phone services operator by subscriber numbers, in which NTT owns a stake of about 63 percent. NTT DoCoMo had recently that net profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 sank 20 percent from the year before due to a continued slump in call revenue and a falloff in sales of mobile handsets.

•         Softbank Mobile Corp. ranked first among Japanese cellphone service providers in net subscription gains in October for the third straight month. Softbank Mobile, a subsidiary of Softbank Corp., gained a net 97,500 new contracts in the reporting month, due to the continued popularity of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3GS handsets marketed by the firm in Japan. Emobile Ltd. replaced KDDI Corp., which provides ''au'' mobile phone services, as the second-largest net contract gainer with 80,000 contracts. NTT Docomo Inc. came third with 55,100 contracts, followed by KDDI with 27,500 contracts.

•         KDDI Corp. will acquire a 50 percent stake in BRAC BD Mail Networks Ltd. of Bangladesh through a third-party allotment of new shares by the Dhaka-based Internet access service provider. KDDI will invest in the company known as bracNet as the penetration rate of the Internet remains as low as 2 percent in Bangladesh despite strong demand. The Bangladeshi company was founded in 2005 by Defta Partners, a venture capital firm in California, and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a non-profit organization in Dhaka. KDDI has yet to announce details of the equity acquisition deal, including its value and date.

 

•         SK Telecom Co. has completed the sale of its 3.8 percent stake in China Unicom Ltd. for 1.5 trillion won (US$1.26 billion) in a move to adjust its business portfolio. The proceeds will be used to boost its financial health, launch a fixed-line and mobile convergence business in China and fund research and development projects. SK Telecom purchased US$1 billion worth of convertible bonds issued by China Unicom, China's No. 2 mobile provider, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. SK Telecom converted the bonds into shares in August 2007.

•         NCsoft Corp.’s third-quarter earnings rose more than nine fold from a year earlier 46.9 billion won (US$39.8 million) led by a surge in sales in North America and Europe. Sales were 166.3 billion won (US$143 million) while operating profit recorded a seven-fold increase with 56.6 billion won (US$48.9 million). Third-quarter bottom line marked the highest quarterly net profit and a fourth straight quarterly rise. The company ascribed its stellar performance to the popularity of its new game Aion among overseas users, which was introduced in North America and Europe in September. Sales in North America doubled on quarter to 24.2 billion won while those in Europe quadrupled to 17 billion won (US$14.6 million).

•         MagnaChip Semiconductor has emerged from bankruptcy protection in the U.S. as it was acquired by U.S. funds managed by Avenue Capital Management. The exit came about five months after MagnaChip's U.S. parent filed for bankruptcy amid falling revenue. The company is financially robust and ready to continue executing our growth plan. MagnaChip was acquired by a unit of Citigroup in 2004 after spinning off from Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

•         Hyosung Corp. abandoned a bid for Hynix Semiconductor because of speculation it received political favors to pursue the takeover. Hyosung was the one of 43 South Korean groups to bid for Hynix. Korea Exchange Bank said creditors will resume their search for a buyer as they seek to recoup the US$4.6 billion spent bailing out the world’s second- largest maker of computer-memory chips.

•         Samsung Electronics Co. and other major makers of NAND flash memory chips saw their third-quarter sales increase sharply thanks to a surge in prices. Samsung Electronics recorded US$1.29 billion in sales of NAND flash memory chips used for mobile electronic devices in the July-September period, climbed 24.4 percent from three months earlier. Industry leader Samsung's market share rose slightly to 38.5 percent in the third quarter from 37.6 percent from the previous quarter. Japan's Toshiba had US$1.16 billion in third-quarter sales, climbed 21.3 percent from the previous quarter. Its market share remained unchanged at 34.7 percent. U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology's sales climbed 33.9 percent on-quarter to US$291 million, with its market share rising to 9.4 percent. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. had US$219 million in sales, climbed 11.7 percent from three months earlier. Hynix had an 8.7 percent market share, while its industry ranking fell one spot to third.

•      Samsung Electronics Co. widened its lead over rivals in the North American mobile phone market in the third quarter, helped by the popularity of its key models. Samsung sold 12.1 million handsets in the July-September period, garnering a 25.6 percent share of the North American market. The figure was climbed 0.9 percentage point from three months earlier. Samsung was the top seller in the North American market for five quarters running. Samsung's sales also topped the 12 million mark for the first time. LG Electronics sold 9.8 million units in North America in the third quarter. LG's market share declined 1.9 percentage points to 20.7 percent. Motorola shipped 7.9 million handsets, with its market share dropping 0.6 percentage point to 16.7 percent.

•         Alibaba.com Ltd. said its third-quarter net profit fell 20 percent to 236.0 million yuan (US$34.6 million), as higher spending on marketing, staff and technology more than offset a double-digit rise in revenue. Revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose 32 percent. Third-quarter revenue climbed 12 percent from the second quarter. The decline in net profit was as expected, as a result of previously announced continuing investments in customers, people and technology. Spending jumped in various areas during the July-September quarter including sales and marketing expenses which soared 65 percent from a year earlier.

•         China's mobile value-added market experienced stable development in terms of market size in the third quarter of this year. China's mobile value-added market size topped 39.2 billion yuan (US$5.7 billion) in the third quarter of this year, up 17.9 percent on year and 0.7 percent on quarter. China's economic recovery in the third quarter drove up the consumption of mobile telecom services. Carriers' application of various 3G service promotions during the third quarter stimulated a nonstop boost of mobile value-added services. The WAP segment was able to grow atop 3G service promotions and mobile Internet development, which boosted telecom industry's data services.

•         China Telecom will issue three-year notes worth 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion). The company will use the funds raised to boost its working capital and to pay off some of its short-term debt.

•         ZTE Corporation had its 3Q results ended 30 Sep 2009. ZTE succeeded in gaining further inroads in the market segment comprised of multi-national carriers with its LTE, UMTS and GSM products. This success was attributable in large part to leveraging opportunities presented by the need for network construction in emerging markets against the backdrop of an improving global economic environment. The Group had 2009 revenue to-date from principal operations of 42.8 billion yuan (US$6.3 billion), representing growth of 41.27 percent as compared to the same period last year, while net profit attributable to the parent company grew 46.13 percent to 1.2 billion yuan (US$175 million). In the third quarter, the Group had revenue from principal operations of 15.1 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion), representing growth of 42.81 percent as compared to the same period last year, while net profit attributable to the parent company grew 58.18 percent to 409 million yuan (US$60 million). The Group had substantial growth in operating revenue largely attributable to large-scale 3G network construction in the domestic China market.

·          Shanda will invest US$100 million in a new company, which will be established by Golden Eagle Broadcasting System, and partner in the future on audio-visual content. Danni Long will be the newly appointed president of the company. Danni Long was invited to join Hurray Holdings as CEO.

·          Phoenix Satellite Television, founded in 2005, had a US$25 million investment from Intel Capital as well as Bertelsmann Asia Investment Funds and Morningside Ventures. Foreign companies like Phoenix have had a difficult time breaking into China's highly sensitive traditional media markets, with names like Time Warner and News Corp. making little inroads despite years of investment in the sector. Beijing has been less restrictive on media delivered over the Internet and mobile phones, making the media more attractive to foreign investors in a country that is the world's largest Internet and cellular market.

•      TPV Technology would merge with LG Display Co Ltd to produce LCD television and monitors in China involving total investments of US$84 million. TPV would set up a venture with LG Display to manufacture LCD modules and televisions in Xiamen with a US$34 million investment, and a monitor and public display product manufacturing venture in Fujian involving total investment of US$50 million. TPV will hold 49 percent of the ventures and South Korea's LG Display, the world's No.2 maker of LCD screens, will own 51 percent. Asian panel makers are rushing to increase their presence in China, which is expected to become the world's biggest market for liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions within a few years. LG Display signed a deal with the Chinese city of Guangzhou to go ahead with a proposed US$4 billion panel plant in China.

•      Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) will pay US$140 million in cash to larger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and may offer US$100 million worth of SMIC shares to TSMC to settle a trade-secrets lawsuit. A California jury ruled last week that SMIC stole trade secrets from TSMC, possibly putting SMIC on the hook for more than US$1 billion in damages for TSMC.

•      SMIC’s shares climbed by 74 percent after the company named a new chief executive officer to replace founder Richard Chang. Chang will be replaced by David Wang, 63, a director at Solar Fun Power Holdings Co. Chang’s resignation follows an accord reached by the company this week to resolve a trade-secrets lawsuit filed by TSMC.

•      Yingli Green Energy Holding booked a net income of 120.8 million yuan (US$17.7 million) with net revenue of 2.23 billion yuan (US$326.0 million) in the third quarter of 2009. The company updated its annual PV module shipment target to 490-500MW this year, representing an increase of 74.0-77.6 percent year-on-year, and upgraded its gross margin target for fiscal year 2009 to 19-20 percent.