[/img]'Tis the season for manufacturing deals? Sure seems it. Merely
hours after Sony announced its intentions to buy back Cell chip
fabrication facilities from Toshiba, it looks as if Tosh is about to
enter into yet another agreement. In this case, it'll be outsourcing
the unprofitable production of semiconductors to rival Samsung, which
will be responsible for churning out the brains behind a number of
smartphones, televisions and digital home appliances. Numerous sources
have explained that Toshiba is interested in realigning its focus onto
the blossoming memory chip business, and moreover, its hoping to evade
costly facility upgrades that would be necessary to remain competitive
in the system LSI business.
In other words, the company is dodging investment costs and placing a
greater emphasis on a sector that's already profitable (NAND flash
production, for those curious), and after the Oita plant is handed
off, it'll be used to make image sensors in digital cameras. The
Nagasaki plant, as we heard earlier, will be handed over to Sony.
Toshiba's stocks were sent northward after investors welcomed the
news, but of course it remains to be seen what kind of consumer impact
this will have. Whatever the case, we certainly hope Toshiba never
runs into any trouble with Sammy -- it's not like its top brass can be
touched, regardless of infraction.
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