RTS, All, some good news!!! :0) Stan
Japan's digital electronics investment hits 11 bln dollars
Sunday January 25, 11:21 AM
Combined capital investment in Japanese firms' digital electronics products is expected to hit 1.2 trillion yen (11 billion dollars) for the year to March, a daily reports.
The figure, a total investment by the nation's 24 major electronics manufacturers for the current fiscal year, represented a 70 percent gain from a year earlier, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.
The robust capital spending by the electronics firms, including Sony, Canon, Toshiba, Matsushita, Sharp, is expected to continue into the next fiscal year, fueling domestic economic recovery, the business daily said.
Sharp Corp. will spend 150 billion yen on digital appliance-related products in the current fiscal year, including on a plant in Kameyama, central Japan, to produce liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for television sets, it said.
Combined spending on flat TV panels and semiconductors by seven other major companies, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Pioneer Corp. is projected to hit 280 billion yen during the fiscal year, up 75 percent year.
Meanwhile Toshiba Corp. is set to spend 130 billion yen during the year to raise production of flash memories for digital cameras nearly double the previous year's outlay, the daily said.
The company decided last month to boost the capacity of its flash memory plant in Yokkaichi, central Japan, by a year earlier than its original schedule.
NEC Electronics Inc. is expanding production of system chips for cellular phones and other products.
As part of the move, the firm is set to operate an advanced chip plant capable of producing 300mm (12 inch) wafers at its subsidiary in Yamagata, northern Japan, with an outlay totaling 60 billion yen.
Combined capital spending by seven major chipmakers is likely to hit 583 billion yen in the fiscal year, up 69 percent. |
