Toshiba's semiconductor division is down, but not out. The new corporate president, Norio Sasaki, says he may authorize the building of two NAND flash fabs which were postponed earlier this year due to terrible prices and a cash crisis at the company.
However Sasaki is not, apparently, giving up on the semiconductor division. "We have to plant the seeds now for the generation after, and also begin preparing for post-NAND," he told a Tokyo press conference.
Sasaki's predecessor, Atsutoshi Nishida, had announced the intention of overtaking market leader Samsung in NAND flash but, despite massive spending on capacity, Toshiba did not succeed in eroding Samsung's 40% market share, or increasing its own 28% share.
Sasaki now says that he will await a rebound in demand before giving the go-ahead for the two new fabs. At the end of this month, Toshiba will review its decision to cut NAND flash output by 30 per cent. "If we say we are raising capacity, others will do the same", said Sasaki.
Sasaki, who comes from the heavy electrical engineering, power generation, side of Toshiba, was not thought to be sympathetic to the high capital spending, erratically profitable, semiconductor division whose $2.8bn of losses contributed substantially to Toshiba's $3.6bn corporate loss last year, and to the company's need to raise $5bn in fresh capital earlier this year in the face of corporate indebtedness of $20bn.
See also: Mannerisms -
Bridge Of DiesSign up for the weekly Mannerisms blog newsletter, delivered on Tuesdays.
There had even been talk of a spin-off of the semiconductor division. However, Sasaki's latest statements appear to suggest he is committed to semiconductors, even though he anticipates some changes.
"We are spread too thin in system chips, and we will review each product and focus on those that generate solid profits," said Sasaki.
Sasaki has drastically cut back capex in the semiconductor division. The division had spent $3bn a year on capex in each of the previous three years but, this year, Sasaki cut that back to $900m.