NEC Corp, the third-largest chipmaker, had a loss in the first half as makers of personal computers and mobile phones curtailed chip purchases and said it will shutter a Philippines hard-disk drive plant.
NEC had a group loss of ?29.8 billion (US$243 million), or ?18.07 a share, in the six months to Sept. 30, compared with a profit of ?20.5 billion, or ?12.58, in the year-ago period.Sales were almost unchanged at ?2.47 trillion.
The Tokyo-based chipmaker is cutting jobs and paring production to restore its chip business to health.
The results for Toshiba and NEC "look bad, particularly in the semiconductor area," said Katsuaki Furutachi, a senior fund manager at Asahi Life Asset Management Co who helps manage about ?150 billion in equities.
Furutachi said he sold all his holdings in electronics makers in July because of the deteriorating operating environment and won't purchase the shares again until prices decline.
NEC's shares fell ?36, or 2.8 percent to 1,242 before the release of the first-half earnings. The shares have declined about 41 percent since the beginning of the year compared with rival Toshiba's 33 percent slide.
Though NEC's results were slightly better than analysts had expected, the chipmaker said it will stop producing hard-disk drives in the Philippines, firing 1,400 workers by the end of December.
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