Tuesday, August 06, 2013: Renesas Electronics, the Japanese company announced that it will close a plant that designs system LSI chips for Nitendo’s game consoles. The plant was also involved in manufacturing a few other consumer electronics. Since, there is no buyer for this facility in Tsuruoka in northern Japan, therefore it is closing the plant.
Both makers of game console as well as camera were adversely affected by stiff competition from the makers of smartphones and tablets. Smartphone and tablet users can use these devices for playing games and taking photographs. Hence, Renesas Electronics was also affected due to this fierce competition as it supplies chips and other components to these game console makers. Around 1000 people are employed in this factory, which will be shut down soon.
Meanwhile, it is concentrating its efforts on designing microcontrollers that are used in automotive electronics. The company garners the top global market share in microcontrollers. By the end of September, Renesas is supposed to receive funds worth 150 billion yen ($1.53 billion) from the state-run Innovation Network Corp of Japan.
Prior to this, Renesas had refused merger with Panasonic and Fujitsu with regard to its system LSI business. Despite holding talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to sell the Tsuruoka plant, the company did not reach an agreement.
