Toshiba restructures its semiconductor business

It will outsource 80% of the production of 300mm SoC printed circuits with the aim of focusing on the manufacture of more cost-effective and technologically advanced chips. The goal is to achieve a 30% market share in 2013 for the new generation of image sensors for cameras and smartphones.

Toshiba has decided to restructure its semiconductor business and outsource the production of SoC chips, to focus on the design, research, development and manufacturing of more profitable semiconductors. The company thus responds to the changes that are occurring in the printed circuit market.

Toshiba's first objective is to outsource the manufacturing of 80% of the 300mm SoC chips. Something that it hopes to achieve in 2013. Currently the ratio of chips of this type that come from third-party factories is already 50%. The company will also reduce its current range of semiconductors by half to improve its production efficiency and focus its resources on products whose demand shows the greatest growth potential.

These changes will allow investment in research and development of new integrated circuits, especially image sensors and similar chips for smart mobile phones and photo and video cameras, which have a greater technological component and better growth prospects.

In this sense, the company aims to achieve a 30% market share in 2013 in the segment of BSI (Backside Illumination) chips, the new generation of image sensors for digital photo and video cameras and smart mobile phones that will replace the current standard technology on the market (FSI. Frontside Illumination). According to the analysis company Yole Development, in 2013, 42% of the image sensors used in these devices will be BSI, and two years later, in 2015, this percentage will be 70%.

In this same segment of the semiconductor market, Toshiba will launch a new camera module factory in China through a joint venture between its subsidiary Toshiba Semiconductor and Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology of which it will own 30%.

Finally, the company will promote the manufacture of large diameter silicon wafers, abandoning the production of 200 mm wafers for the new 300 mm ones.