Japanese semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics Corp is considering cutting up to 14,000 jobs or 30 percent of its work force as part of a major restructuring plan, news reports said yesterday.
The company is also considering selling a major factory to a Taiwanese firm, while closing or scaling down other plants, said the Nikkei and the Asahi Shimbun newspapers as well as Kyodo News.
Renesas, which lost ¥62.6 billion (US$785 million) in the year to March, also plans to raise ¥100 billion, mainly from its top shareholders NEC, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric, the Nikkei said.
The company wants to sell its major factory in Yamagata to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the Nikkei said. The plant, with 1,400 workers, produces semiconductors used in televisions and other digital gadgets, but low domestic demand has forced the company to reduce operations at the factory, the Nikkei said.
In a statement, Renesas distanced itself from the reports, saying no formal decision had been made. The scope of the newly reported plan is significantly higher than what was reported on Tuesday by the Yomiuri Shimbun, which reported 6,000 job cuts and ¥50 billion in fresh capital.
The chipmaker has lost about 35 percent of its market value since May 9, when it said it could not provide an earnings outlook because of uncertainty in the chip market. The stock rose 1.9 percent to ¥273 at Friday’s close in Tokyo.
US SANCTIONS: The Taiwan tech giant has ended all shipments to China-based Sophgo Technologies after one of their chips was discovered in a Huawei phone Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) artificial intelligence (AI) processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, the people said. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. Reuters could not determine how the chip ended up on the Huawei product. Sophgo said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that it was in compliance with all laws
SPEED OF LIGHT: US lawmakers urged the commerce department to examine the national security threats from China’s development of silicon photonics technology US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday said it is finalizing rules that would limit US investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology sectors in China that could threaten US national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the US Department of the Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by Biden in August last year covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems. The rules are to take effect on Jan. 2 next year and would be overseen by the Treasury’s newly created Office of Global Transactions. The Treasury said the “narrow
TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
Two scoops of pistachio, one of corruption. For years holidaymakers have guzzled Sicilian gelato at famous parlors in Palermo, unaware that the booming businesses were controlled by organized crime. The fraud was a textbook case for detectives trained to sniff out dirty money, but even with three mobster classics — a suspicious bankruptcy, a front man and a scheming “Godfather” — it took years for investigators to shut the operation down. The Brioscia brand, made up of two ice cream parlors, was thriving at the end of the 2010s, attracting locals and foreign visitors alike with its glittering gold stars on travel