Fujitsu Ltd, Japan's biggest maker of business computers, will transform its server-making plant in Japan into a software development and services center by the end of March next year to focus on profitable businesses.
The plant in Numazu, west of Tokyo, will shift production of servers that process Internet traffic for corporate customers, to Fujitsu IT Products Ltd, a unit in northern Japan, Fujitsu spokesman Robert Pomeroy said.
The Nihon Keizai newspaper earlier reported Fujitsu's plans. The Numazu plant will turn into a training center for those who wish to change their jobs to software engineers from factory workers.
The move is part of a company plan to pare costs and concentrate on software development and its higher profit margins.
Plunging prices of the memory chips used in cellular phones forced Fujitsu to post a ?350 billion (US$2.67 billion) one-time charge to account for job cuts and shuttering unprofitable plants.
"Software and service business is one of very few areas that can make profit under recession, thus Fujitsu has to strengthen it," said Yasuaki Sumimoto, who helps manage about US$5.6 billion in Japanese equities at UFJ Partners Asset Management Co, which holds Fujitsu's shares.
Fujitsu will also shift the manufacturing of storage equipment at its Nagano plant, west of Tokyo, to Fujitsu IT Products, Pomeroy said.
RSS