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WW Thinker
You are partly correct. If the engineers in the previously of Nokia team are so ...
peter.clarke
Report: Renesas Mobile up for sale in re-org
Peter Clarke
6/19/2012 6:13 AM EDT
LONDON – Renesas Mobile Corp., the mobile chip company subsidiary of struggling Renesas Electronics Corp., could be put up for sale as part of a previously reported re-organization. Other details that emerged in an Asahi Shimbun report that referenced unnamed sources included that Renesas is considering closing or selling off at least 10 of its 19 domestic manufacturing plants over the next three years.
Other local reports put the closure list as high as 12 and said the moves could be made within one or two years.
The closures are in-line with previous reports that Renesas plans to eliminate up to 14,000 jobs, or about 30 percent of its workforce, while selling the company’s leading system-chip fab in Yamagata to leading foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (see Renesas cuts 14,000 jobs; sells fab to TSMC).
The downsizing is intended bring the company into profitability. Renesas has been loss-making since its formation as a merger of the chipmaking interests of NEC and Renesas Technology in 2010.
The latest local reports detailed that the factory closures could produce 4,000 lay-offs, while 5,000 staff could be offered early retirement. Renesas Mobile employs about 1,800 people, who could be taken of Renesas' books by a sale and 1,300 workers employed at the Yamagata wafer fab are due to transfer to TSMC. Similarly Renesas has already decided to sell a wafer fab in Aimori prefecture that makes microcontrollers to Fuji Electric Co. thereby eliminating 550 people from its payroll.
Renesas will keep its Naka wafer fab in Ibaraki prefecture as its main facility, the Asahi Shimbun report said. The Naka plant was badly damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and the rapid rehabilitation of the plant was one of numerous heroic achievements that took place after the disaster.
Related links and articles:
Asahi Shimbun article
Renesas extends MCU work with TSMC to 40-nm
Renesas cuts 14,000 jobs; fab sale to TSMC
Renesas still struggling with restructuring plan
Reports: Renesas to tie up with TSMC, cut jobs
FujiPanaRene: clinging to the wreckage
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iniewski
6/19/2012 8:14 AM EDT
Closing 12 plants is a major move but will it be sufficient...what is the new plan for Renesas mobile? Kris
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Tatsuo Kobayashi
6/19/2012 9:03 PM EDT
Renesas neither has money nor the required skilled manpower to compete and survive against the likes of Qualcomm and Nvidia. Better they sell it off. Question is, who will buy it?
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GeeKv2
6/20/2012 3:06 AM EDT
I think its wrong to say that they dont have skilled manpower. These are the same people who worked for Nokia's modem division and have a lot of experience.
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WW Thinker
6/23/2012 9:22 AM EDT
You are partly correct. If the engineers in the previously of Nokia team are so skilled and talented, why couldn't Nokia sell them for a lot more money. Considering the history of WWAN evolution and the commercial success, it is not hard to draw the conclusion that European smiconductor vendors are falling behind in terms of the ability to offer WWAN solutions that are price and performance competitive. ST-E is another good example and perhaps the next one to fall.
On top, Renesas Mobile never made the effort to give this baby a real chance for long-term prosperity. Since the beginning, spending was not controlled, especially those of marketing & sales nature. Just look at how any offices there are at Renesas Mobile worldwide. Those are good money which can be used to keep good engineers, to pay for good R&D. Like Sony Ericsson, Renesas Mobile has more than one head of state, hence who is realling driving the company. It was a disaster and money wasting exercise almost from the beginning. If it still has good IPs, someone (Apple?) should be willing to pick it up for cheap.
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peter.clarke
6/20/2012 6:52 AM EDT
@GeeKv2
There is a difference between innovation and commercial success. My concern would be that Renesas Mobile may be facing many of the same problems that are faced by ST-Ericsson.
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