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To: Ausdauer who wrote (20750)	8/16/2001 8:16:47 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Probably totally off topic: Toshiba Chip Unit to Post Fiscal 1st-Half Loss, May Fire Staff By Minoru Matsutani and Yoshifumi Takemoto Tokyo, Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Toshiba Corp.'s semiconductor business will post an operating loss in the fiscal first half, forcing the world's second-biggest chipmaker to consider firing workers in Japan as lower chip prices crimp earnings. ``Losses at our computer-memory chip business are extremely large,'' Takeshi Nakagawa, president of Toshiba's semiconductor business, said in an interview, without specifying how much the division expects to lose for the six months ending Sept. 30. Toshiba's semiconductor business, which makes chips for computers, mobile phones and digital cameras, had an operating profit of 72 billion yen ($600 million) in the first half a year earlier. The division accounts for 70 percent of Toshiba's operating profit and a fifth of the company's sales. Tokyo-based Toshiba may deal with losses at the division by reducing its workforce in Japan by firing workers or offering early retirement, Nakagawa said. The move is ``a corporate decision'' the company's board should take, he added. Prices of dynamic random-access memory chips, the main memory in personal computers, are hovering below production costs, resulting in losses recently at rivals such as Micron Technology Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. Toshiba, maker of the Dynabook and Libretto laptop computers, will reduce production of DRAMs by a quarter this month by closing a production line at one of its plants in Japan. Investors say the company needs to cut costs more. ``Investors are judging Japanese chipmakers like Toshiba by how drastically they propose to reorganize,'' said Ikuo Suzuki, a fund manager at Invesco Asset Management (Japan) Ltd., which holds Toshiba shares. Invesco manages 300 billion yen in Japanese stocks. Toshiba hasn't announced a profit forecast for its chip business in the first half. Achieving the division's full year profit target of 50 billion yen is ``absolutely impossible,'' Nakagawa said. The benchmark 128-megabit DRAM spot price is currently at $1.66 compared with an average of $6.48 the past year. To cope with lower prices, Toshiba may ally with foreign rivals to share DRAM development costs, Nakagawa said, without specifying possible candidates. However, Toshiba ``is not interested in teaming with Japanese companies,'' he said. Toshiba is currently developing memory chips for mobile phones with Infineon Technologies AG, the fourth-biggest DRAM maker. Toshiba, the sixth-biggest, doesn't have alliances with Samsung Electronics Co., Micron or Hynix, the three biggest DRAM makers respectively. The three companies account for 62 percent of global DRAM revenue.