TOKYO: Japanese industrial conglomerate Toshiba said on Friday (Mar 27) it will start negotiations with Mitsubishi Electric and chipmaker Rohm to merge their power semiconductor businesses, as international competition over the sector heats up.
The move comes as Japan has been pushing for a greater presence in the global semiconductor market.
If realised, the alliance would create the world’s second-largest power chip group, according to local media.
Billed as able to drastically reduce power loss, power semiconductors are seen as pivotal to sectors ranging from railway to automotive and renewable energy.
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (TDSC), a subsidiary of Toshiba, signed a memorandum of understanding to begin discussions with Mitsubishi and Rohm.
“As the global competition over the semiconductor industry keeps intensifying, TDSC and Rohm have long explored the possibility of coordinating in the power semiconductor sector,” Toshiba said.
With Mitsubishi Electric now on board, too, a merger would make “our business scale and technological infrastructure competitive in the global market”, Toshiba said.
The agreement was also signed by Japan Industrial Partners and TBJ Holdings.
Japan currently holds less than 10 per cent of the global chip market, but the government is investing heavily in new factories in a bid to change that.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration set a new sales target for domestically produced microchips, aiming for an eightfold increase by 2040 compared with 2020 levels.
The 2040 target of 40 trillion yen (US$250 billion) far exceeds sales of around five trillion yen in 2020, according to figures from the ministry of economy, trade and industry.
Read the full article here
