Tokyo: ‘Renesas Electronics Corp is in talks with Apple Inc and other potential buyers of a stake in a smartphone display chip unit, as the struggling Japanese chipmaker restructures its business around the automotive industry,’ stated official reports.
Renesas is also considering selling its 55 per cent stake in Renesas SP Driver, which makes semiconductors that control displays. Apple has been tightening control over its supply chain to keep up with main rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and stay ahead of fast-growing Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
Renesas, which has racked up nearly 650 billion yen ($6.28 billion) in net losses during eight years in the red, said on Wednesday it was considering selling the unit but declined to comment further.
‘The Japanese company could sell Apple its stake for 50 billion yen by the summer,’ stated the Nikkei business daily, which first reported on the talks with Apple.
Shares of Renesas surged after the report as much as 19 per cent to 934 yen, their highest in more than three years. They had pulled back by early afternoon to 828 yen, up 5.6 per cent, compared with a 1.2 percent rise in the benchmark index.
Renesas, formed from the struggling chip divisions of three Japanese electronics conglomerates, received a 150 billion yen bailout in September from major customers and a government-led fund, countering a bid by US private equity firm KKR & Co LP.
