Renesas Electronics to close Renesas Eastern Japan Semiconductor’s Tokyo device division

TOKYO, JAPAN: Renesas Electronics Corp. has announced its plan to close the Tokyo Device Division (Ome, Tokyo) of Renesas Eastern Japan Semiconductor Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics, near the end of March 2012.

Renesas plans to proceed with the necessary measures while consulting closely with customers, including transferring production volume at the Tokyo Device Division to other Renesas manufacturing sites and discontinuing part of the products. The company also plans to accumulate excess production by front-loading the production schedule for those products that require time to shift production to alternate sites.

Since its establishment in 1963 as Ome Electronics Kogyosho Ltd., the Tokyo Device Division of Renesas Eastern Japan Semiconductor has specialized in the assembly and test of devices such as transistors, analog ICs, LCD drivers, and memory devices. Its semiconductor assembly operations focus on large-capacity memory products employing multilayer chip-stacking technology and single-wafer testing technology.

In addition to back-end production for Renesas Electronics, the Tokyo Device Division of Renesas Eastern Japan Semiconductor has taken steps to expand its contract production business by leveraging the exclusive technologies mentioned above. However, the rise of overseas competitors, particularly in Asia, has led to fierce competition and an extremely unfavorable business climate.

The 100-Day Project, announced by Renesas Electronics in July 2010, calls for “improving manufacturing efficiency through expansion of overseas business and production concentration” in its policy for back-end facilities, and accordingly the company is oriented toward strengthening its overseas production capacity and increasing outsourcing of production.

In line with this policy, Renesas Electronics has examined the trajectory of the Tokyo Device Division of Renesas Eastern Japan Semiconductor within the overall back-end production policy of the company and today come to a decision to close down its operations.

Talks are planned between labor and management regarding the treatment of the employees of the Tokyo Device Division following its closure.