Three of Japan’s biggest electronics giants- Panasonic, Renesas Electronics and Fujitsu are to join forces in a chip-making venture, according to reports, days after a swathe of dire results from a sector struggling to compete globally. The three companies will spin off their system chip design and development divisions to create a new company in an effort to ensure the survival of the Japanese chip industry. Panasonic is set to hook up with Renesas Electronics and Fujitsu as they look for economies of scale in an increasingly difficult marketplace.The move will leave Toshiba as the only other Japanese company still making system chips used for electronic devices and automobiles.
The new firm will develop system chips for smart phones, automobiles and other products and will go head to head with their U.S. and South Korean rivals including Intel and Samsung. The joint venture will receive several hundred million U.S. dollars from government-backed investment fund Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ) to be invested in the development of new products, the Nikkei said. If realized, the plan will create a company with annual sales of 500 billion yen. . Renesas, Fujitsu, Panasonic and INCJ aim to reach a basic agreement by the end of March. The three companies declined to comment on the report.
