A series of powerful earthquakes that shook southwest Japan has also disrupted the electronics supply chain. Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and chip-maker Renesas are among the companies with factories in the area.
Smart card producers Samsung Electronics, Philips and Infineon were fined €138 million (about US$181 million) by the European Commission on Wednesday for forming a cartel. Renesas, also part of the cartel, escaped a fine by revealing the existence of the cartel.
New chips that blur the line between computer memory and storage are starting to move beyond niche applications and could change how we use PCs, an industry analyst said Sunday.
Japanese chip giant Renesas is seeking a US$1.8 billion capital injection to invest in new manufacturing techniques. The world's largest microcontroller manufacturer, its products find their way into game consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo, and into cars including Toyota's Prius hybrid range.
Renesas Electronics will upgrade its Japanese factories so that they can be up and running within a month after a major quake like the one that struck Japan in March.