Industryweek 5693 Panasonic

Panasonic to Sell Chip Plants to Israeli Firm

Nov. 27, 2013
Panasonic is also in talks to sell full or partial stakes in overseas chip-assembly plants to a Singaporean company, including factories in China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

TOKYO - Panasonic (IW 1000/41) is nearing a deal to sell three domestic semiconductor plants to an Israeli company as it presses ahead with a move to cut money-losing operations, a report said Wednesday.

The Nikkei business daily said the electronics giant would sell majority stakes in the three factories to chipmaker TowerJazz.

The deal's price tag would be determined later, it added.

Most of the plants' 2,500 workers will stay on after the agreement, with other members of staff transferred to different divisions within Panasonic, the Nikkei said.

The deal could reportedly be finalized in the fiscal year to March 2014.

Panasonic is also in talks to sell full or partial stakes in overseas chip-assembly plants to a Singaporean company, including factories in China, Indonesia and Malaysia, the leading Japanese business daily said.

The tie-up with Nasdaq-listed TowerJazz would provide Panasonic with fresh capital while expanding the plants' customer base and boosting production, the Nikkei said.

In response, Panasonic said, "we are making various studies on our semiconductor business strategy but nothing has been decided at the moment".

Panasonic is undergoing a huge restructuring aimed at repairing its balance sheet after two consecutive years of record losses.

It has already decided to pull out of the consumer smartphone business in Japan and plasma televisions.

The firm recently doubled its net profit forecast for the current fiscal year through March to $985 million.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Lifecycle management for semiconductors. One end-to-end digital solution for today’s evolving ecosystem.

July 11, 2023
Discover the secure end-to-end traceability and digitalization solution for semiconductor lifecycle management. Gain the traceability, real-time visibility of business processes...

Legacy Phone Lines Are Draining Your Profits

Oct. 30, 2023
Copper wire phone line expenses that support emergency devices could be costing your company millions of dollars in wasteful overhead expenses. Rates have been skyrocketing while...

Process Mining For Dummies

Nov. 19, 2023
Here it is. Everything you need to know about process mining in a single book, written in the easy-to-understand, hard-to-forget style that ‘For Dummies’ manages so effortlessly...

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!