Renesas Electronics has announced it will cut about 5,000 jobs mostly in the current fiscal year and completed by March 2013. It also revealed plans to use outside foundries on all of its 28nm and smaller geometry semiconductor products.

Renesas Electronics is cutting nearly 10% of its 50,000 employees by the end of 2010 as it outsources production, according to a Nikkei report.

Renesas Electronics and Nokia are deepening their collaboration by forming a strategic business alliance to develop modem technologies for HSPA+/LTE and its evolution, according to Renesas. As part of this alliance, the companies have entered into an agreement whereby Renesas is to acquire Nokia's wireless modem business for US$200 million.

Completing a merger transaction between the former NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology, the newly established Renesas Electronics has commenced business operations.

Hynix Semiconductor has agreed to pay US$3.32 million to settle a claim in the US accusing the company of price-fixing on memory chips, according to a US court record.

Renesas Technology has reached a preliminary agreement to transfer its semiconductor manufacturing equipment business to Hitachi High-Technologies.

A new super central processing unit (CPU), jointly developed by Japan's big chipmakers and funded by the Tokyo government, is coming up to challenge Intel.

The Nikkei reported that Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC are in talks to infuse a total of about 200 billion yen into Renesas and NEC Electronics to help smooth the way toward a merger. The merger has been delayed for the second time.

NEC Electronics will likely outsource more production of semiconductors used in consumer electronics to outside foundries to insure against a sudden plunge in demand following losses last year tied to a rapid drop in orders.

NEC Electronics, which has inked an integration contract with fellow chip maker Renesas Technology, is eyeing either Toshiba or Panasonic as its partner in developing an advanced semiconductor system, President Junshi Yamaguchi said.

NEC Electronics' semiconductor orders will increase "several percent" next quarter, helped by demand for chips used in cars and liquid- crystal displays, President Junshi Yamaguchi said.

NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology have agreed to enter into negotiations to integrate business operations. The two chipmakers plan to sign an agreement at the end of July, 2009 to form Japan's largest semiconductor maker.

Chip-making companies Renesas Technology and NEC Electronics have agreed to integrate their operations by April next year, in a move that will form an entity surpassing Toshiba as Japan's largest chip maker, according to reports Friday.

Renesas Technology, Japan's second-largest chipmaker, aims to return to profit next fiscal year by cutting labor, research and productions costs.

Japan's chip industry, awash in red ink, plans to consolidate older fabs. Fujitsu, NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology all detailed scheduled closings of older facilities. Also, executives at NEC and Toshiba, which have been discussing a merger of their system-on-chip (SoC) operations, appeared reluctant to go ahead with a merger until internal restructuring efforts take effect.

Renesas Technology has announced a variety of structural reforms that will be undertaken to reinforce its business structure as part of the company's key strategy in achieving growth from FY2009 onward.

STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, NXP, and Renesas Technology each said they received surprise visits from investigators in late October. All of them were raided by European Commission investigators seeking information of collusion in the market for chips used in smart cards.

Like all chip makers, Renesas (Tokyo) faces the possible impact of the current economic crisis and IC slowdown. Renesas has not publically lowered its sales and profit forecasts for fiscal 2008. But clearly, the current economic crisis in the United States and elsewhere could have a "severe effect" on the semiconductor industry, warned Katsuhiro Tsukamoto, president and chief operating officer at Renesas. "Consumer demand will drop," Tsukamoto told EE Times in an interview. Worldwide capital spending "will slow down."