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Fujitsu has yet to decide on spinning off chip businesses

Fujitsu Ltd, Japan's largest computer-services provider, said it has yet to decide on whether to spin off its semiconductor business.

Tokyo-based Fujitsu will set up a chip-making subsidiary by the end of March next year to enhance the efficiency of the business and to cooperate with other companies in technology development, the Asahi Shimbun reported yesterday, without saying how it got the information.

The company will make an official announcement early this week and will decide the name and capitalization of the new subsidiary later, Asahi said.

"We are considering various options for our chip business, but at the moment no decision has been made," Etsuro Yamada, a spokesman for Fujitsu, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Slumping chip prices and declining orders have forced the company to restructure the business, the Asahi said.

Fujitsu, the nation's fourth-largest chipmaker, expects to post ¥530 billion (US$4.9 billion) in sales from semiconductors in the business year that ends in March, Fujitsu chief financial officer Masamichi Ogura said on Nov. 22.

The business is forecast to generate less than ¥5 billion in profit, compared with a loss of ¥20 billion a year earlier, Ogura said.

"Fujitsu is competitive in semiconductors for use in communications, image processing and automobiles," Yoshihisa Toyosaki, president of technology research firm J-Star Global Inc, said by telephone. "How to sell these products globally is the task for the company."

Revenue from Fujitsu's chip business totaled ?473.5 billion in the year ended March 31 last year. Its semiconductors are used in camcorders and digital cameras of Sony Corp, as well as its own servers and super computers.

Fujitsu shares closed up ¥5, or 0.7 percent, at ¥726 on Friday.
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