Shares of Toshiba Corp., Japan's largest maker of nuclear reactors by capacity, rose after China picked its Westinghouse Electric Co. unit for a $5.3 billion contract to build four reactors.

Westinghouse won over competing bids from Areva SA of France and AtomStroyExport of Russia. The contract will help Tokyo-based Toshiba, also Japan's largest chipmaker, cover the $4.16 billion it paid for Westinghouse and the $8.68 billion it plans to invest in its semiconductor unit over three years.

Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida, 62, in October said the company would recover its investment in Westinghouse in as little as 15 years. Westinghouse signed the order, the world's biggest international nuclear-power contract, in Beijing on Dec. 16 after almost two years of negotiations and lobbying.

The agreement, signed during a five-nation energy summit, came after the first round of new biannual China-U.S. trade talks. Some U.S. legislators blame China's managed exchange rate and other economic restrictions for lost factory jobs and a record trade deficit. The U.S. trade shortfall with China swelled to $24.4 billion in October.

China's order is part of more than $200 billion forecast to be spent worldwide on nuclear power by 2030, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, an adviser to 26 of the world's largest energy users. A surge in oil and natural-gas prices and concern that the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels leads to global warming are driving the revival.

Source:佚名