Published

Renesas Trims Chip Production to Hike Efficiency

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. says it will close an aging factory in Yamaguchi and phase out one production line at its plant in Shiga.
#electronics

Share

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. says it will close an aging factory in Yamaguchi and phase out one production line at its plant in Shiga.

The cutbacks will occur over 2-3 years, with affected products dropped or their production moved elsewhere, The Nikkei reports.

The Shiga line scheduled for closure makes power semiconductors and other products for automotive and other applications. A second line, which makes laser diodes and other semiconductors, is not affected.

The Yamaguchi plant makes commodity chips used to control industrial machinery. Production will be relocated to another Renesas plant that produces the chips on 8-inch wafers, which is more economical than using Yamaguchi’s 6-inch wafer system.

Renesas aims to pare its array of domestic factories to eight from the 22 facilities it operated in 2011. That was the year that a huge earthquake damaged several of the company’s facilities and caused months of major disruptions in auto production worldwide. The struggle to recover pushed Renesas to near collapse. The company was revived by government and industry bailouts.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Ford GT Display Development

    As you are unlikely to ever be in one of these: (and I’m not implying my odds for getting there are much better), you’re unlikely to ever see this, the 10-inch wide all-digital display in the Ford GT: Speaking to the development of TFT LCD display, Jamal Hameedi, chief engineer, Ford Performance, said, “Driver focus and attention are key with such high performance.

  • Internal Combustion Engines’ Continued Domination (?)

    According to a new research study by Deutsche Bank, “PCOT III: Revisiting the Outlook for Powertrain Technology” (that’s “Pricing the Car of Tomorrow”), to twist a phrase from Mark Twain, it seems that the reports of the internal combustion engine’s eminent death are greatly exaggerated.

  • Honda Re-Imagines and Re-Engineers the Ridgeline

    When Honda announced the first-generation Ridgeline in 2005, it opened the press release describing the vehicle: “The Honda Ridgeline re-defines what a truck can be with its true half-ton bed payload capability, an interior similar to a full-size truck and the exterior length of a compact truck.” And all that said, people simply couldn’t get over the way there is a diagonal piece, a sail-shaped buttress, between the cab and the box.

Gardner Business Media - Strategic Business Solutions