Fujitsu chip business faces radical restructure

LONDON – Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. has announced a radical restructuring of its semiconductor business that is likely to include major disposals and put 2,000 employees at risk of losing their jobs. The announcement came as Fujitsu reported a net loss of 79.0 billion yen (about $900 million) on fiscal third-quarter consolidated net sales of 1,048.2 billion yen (about $12 billion).

In September of 2012 Fujitsu was reportedly trying to get out of the semiconductor business (see Fujitsu said to want out of chip business). A key part of the latest announcement is the merger of its system LSI business with that of Panasonic Corp. in the creation of a fabless chip company (see Fujitsu, Panasonic to form fabless chip firm).

However, that leaves numerous parts of Fujitsu's semiconductor business for which strategic solutions need to be found.

The fate of the Fujitsu's microcontroller and analog device business is uncertain as the company announced it is looking at an "entire range of possibilities" for the business. Such language is usually taken to mean a range from continued investment through to a sale or even closure. Fujitsu said it aims to offer a stable supply to customers and develop the business.

Fujitsu also said it is looking to sell its 300-mm wafer fab at Mie to a foundry. Fujitsu specifically mentions Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) as a potential purchaser despite the fact that the Taiwanese foundry rejected a similar wafer fab related offer from fellow Japanese strugglers Renesas Electronics Corp. in 2012 (see TSMC's Chang says no to buying Renesas fab).

Fujitsu recently announced the transfer of assembly and test lines to J-Devices Corp.

After the integration of the system LSI business with that of Panasonic and the disposal of the 300-mm wafer fab at Mie, Fujitsu Semiconductor will be left with a 200-mm wafer fab and a 150-mm wafer fab in Aizu-Wakamatus and the 200-mm line of Fujitsu Semiconductor Technology (FSET). Fujitsu said employees would be "rationalized" to improve capacity utilization at these facilities.

Fujitsu added that as a result of the decision to restructure these operations, approximately 2,000 people in the semiconductor group would "come under the scope of rationalization."


Click on image to enlarge.
Restructuring and new direction of Fujitsu's semiconductor business. Source: Fujitsu Ltd.


Related links and articles:

www.fujitsu.com

News articles:

Fujitsu, Panasonic to form fabless chip firm

TSMC's Chang says no to buying Renesas fab

Renesas to cut another 3,000 jobs