Japanese giants boost semiconductor output on demand pick-up
Thursday May 30, 3:45 PM
sg.news.yahoo.com
Japan's electronics giants Hitachi Ltd., Sharp Corp. and Toshiba Corp. said they were boosting semiconductor production on the back of fresh global demand.
Hitachi, the nation's largest electronics firm, has started making chips for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) at a plant in Yamanashi prefecture, 100 kilometers (63 miles) west of Tokyo.
"We used to use the line for IC cards -- SIM cards for mobile phones used in Europe -- but the market was not so good so we freezed it last July," said Hitachi spokesman Masano Sato.
"But we noticed the demand for LCDs is growing," he said.
Hitachi reopened the line earlier this month to make LCD chips used in television screens, watches and calculators instead.
"The line has a monthly capacity of 3,000 200 milimetre-diameter wafers," said Sato. "We are not at full capacity at the moment but that is our goal."
Japan's number two semiconductor maker Toshiba has also cranked its dormant semiconductor operations back to life, with a line at a plant in Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture -- 300 kilometers southwest of the capital -- reopening in April, said spokeswoman Midori Suzuki.
The factory has a capacity of 70,000 200 milimetre-diameter wafers but before April was only producing 35,000.
"We aim to increase production judging by the recovery in demand," said Suzuki. "Last year, demand really went down."
Sharp, Japan's top-ranked LCD maker, has sped up the opening date of a semiconductor plant in Mihara, Hiroshima prefecture -- 600 kilometers southwest of Tokyo -- to July from September to meet a surge in demand for laser units used in DVD players, said company spokesman Yukasu Uno.
The firm is also enjoying a recovery in demand at a second Hiroshima-based factory, which makes semiconductors for mobile phones and digital cameras.
"The world wide market for flash memory chips is getting better compared with last year," Uno said.
Most of Japan's electronics leaders plunged heavily into the red in the year to March just ended hit hard by a global slump in demand for technology, but all predicted they would erase losses in the current term thanks to a recovery in orders. |
