What do the Japanese see that we,here in US don't.?..............Sony, Other Chipmakers to Boost 2001/02
Spending
By Reed Stevenson
TOKYO (Reuters) - Anticipating brisk demand for chips used in increasingly
sophisticated devices such as digital TVs and cameras, Sony Corp (6758.T) and other Japanese chipmakers
plan to maintain investment on plant and equipment at near-record levels next year.
Sony, the world's second-largest maker of consumer electronics, said on Monday its semiconductor investment
is likely to exceed $885.8 million in the business year starting in April, up from a record 95 billion yen this year.
Separately, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (6752.T), the world's largest consumer electronics maker,
said it will begin building a plant next year in Japan to make chips for cellular phones, but did not say how much
it would cost.
The Osaka-based giant, which produces goods under the Panasonic, National, Technics and Quasar brands,
also said it will produce chips for digital video cameras and digital broadcast televisions from next December at
a plant it is building in Niigata, northern Japan.
Matsushita did not specify its total planned investment next year on semiconductors. This year, its capital
spending on chip production nearly tripled to 140 billion yen.
Fujitsu Ltd (6702.T) and Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said that they expect to maintain capital spending at current
levels. But a spokesman for NEC Corp (6701.T) said top executives of the world's second-largest chipmaker
after Intel had indicated that it would be difficult to maintain the same level of investment next year.
Spending jumped this year as Japan's electronics industry shifted to making chips for more specialized products
such as cellular phones and digital video products, for which demand is surging.
Outlook Strong
That should continue next year, as Japanese manufacturers move to produce more sophisticated chips in high
demand.
Kokusai Securities analyst Hiroyuki Matsumoto said that demand for LSI (large scale integrated) chips would
increase as they are used in products such as digital television sets.
Charge coupled devices (CCDs), chips that act as the 'retina' of digital videos and cameras, are also enjoying
brisk demand.
And the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) predicted on Friday that
digital camera output in fiscal 2001/02 would rise 37.1 percent to 418 billion yen.
That outlook has major Japanese electronics makers keen to keep investment spending on chips at record or
near-record levels.
``We are still working to draw up a budget for the next business year but semiconductor investment is likely to
exceed 100 billion yen since we are strengthening our digital consumer electronics business,'' a Sony
spokesman said.
Sony's chip-related investment was estimated at a record 95 billion yen in 2000/01, up from 45 billion yen a
year earlier, the spokesman said. |
