Nuvoton Technology Corp’s (新唐科技) announcement yesterday that it is buying Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions Co Ltd (PSCS) marks the end of Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp’s involvement in the semiconductor business.
The Hsinchu-based microcontrollers maker said it would pay US$250 million in an all-cash deal for Kyoto, Japan-based PSCS, which supplies semiconductor devices and solutions with products that focus on sensing, microcontroller and component technologies.
The deal is expected to close by June next year and obtain approvals from both national and regional regulators, it said.
Nuvoton, which is a subsidiary of memorychip maker Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), said the acquisition of PSCS would generate greater value for the customers and shareholders of both companies, while increasing its presence in the global semiconductor industry through greater scale and volume of semiconductor solutions.
“We believe it would broaden the company’s distribution channels and customer base by exploiting PSCS’ abundant resources in research and development, as well as its large pool of talent,” Nuvoton spokeswoman Jessica Huang (黃求己) told a news conference in Taipei.
There are no plans to cut jobs and Nuvoton would integrate PSCS’ more than 2,000 employees, she said.
Nuvoton would also obtain the operating assets of Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions (Suzhou) Co Ltd, such as semiconductor equipment and warehouses; Panasonic Industrial Devices Semiconductor Asia’s assets, liabilities, contracts and other operating assets; and a 49 percent stake in TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co Ltd, a joint venture between Panasonic and Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
PSCS booked an operating loss of ¥23.5 billion (US$214.5 million) for the fiscal year that ended in March, the Nikkei reported.
Nuvoton, with a paid-in capital of NT$2.88 billion (US$94.41million), reported net profit of NT$390.14 million in the first three quarters of this year on revenue of NT$7.58 billion.
Kadoma City, Japan-based Panasonic’s move to sell its semiconductor unit to Nuvoton came after it revealed a three-year-plan to exit the semiconductor business earlier this year.
It has faced rising competition in the semiconductor business from Taiwanese and South Korean rivals, which has been aggravated by a US-China trade spat.
Panasonic sold part of PSCS’ diode and transistor business to Kyoto, Japan-based Rohm Semiconductor Co Ltd in April.
Panasonic president Kazuhiro Tsuga earlier this month said the company would “eradicate” all continuously loss-making businesses by the fiscal year that ends in March 2022, including the production of LCD panels by 2021, while focusing on sectors such as batteries and other auto equipment, the Japan Times reported.
Additional reporting by AFP
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce