Lack of strategy hurts Japan's Renesas reconstruction
Yu Komagata
A sense of uncertainty has been growing over the reconstruction strategy for major chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corporation. The firm announced Tuesday that its consolidated after-tax profits for fiscal 2015 are expected to fall to 82 billion yen (71 million), down 0.4 percent from the previous year.
The company has yet to draw up a growth strategy amid its chaotic situation, caused partly by the abrupt resignation of former Chairman Takao Endo at the end of last year. Its largest stakeholder - the government-backed public-private fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) — has a plan to sell its shares in Renesas, but that process is stagnating.
At the Tuesday press conference, where the forecast was announced for fiscal 2015, which ends in March, Renesas chief financial officer Hidetoshi Shibata said he was “keenly observing the market movements this year.”
In fiscal 2014, Renesas returned to the black for the first time since its management crisis, but the current business environment has become even harsher.
With in mind the arrival of the era of self-driving vehicles, the company has positioned its semiconductor business for automobiles as a pillar of its growth strategy. However, the strategy will be adversely affected if the auto market shrinks due to the slowdown of China’s economy.
Amid price wars, other chipmakers are closing in on Renesas, as in December last year the company fell from the top to second place in terms of its share in the automobile semiconductor market. The INCJ intends to sell its Renesas shares at a profit as soon as possible after getting the firm’s businesses back on track.
However, no clear growth strategy has yet to come to light. Endo assumed the chairman’s post in June last year and has since sought a way forward for business realignment with foreign firms, including a major German chipmaker, as a growth strategy.
But the move was derailed because of opposition from other shareholders, whose complaints included that it would lead to an outflow of Japanese technology.
Renesas should decide immediately whether to aim for survival on its own or seek realignment with other firms, observers said.