Hitachi, Mitsubishi to merge semiconductor operations

Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will merge most of their semiconductor operations April 1 into a new company, Renesas Technology Corp., with the goal of turning a profit in its first fiscal year on sales of at least $7.5 billion.

The Tokyo-based companies said they would jointly provide $417 million to the joint venture, in which Hitachi will hold a 55-percent interest and Mitsubishi the remainder.

The two companies also will merge their wholly owned domestic chip sales units into Renesas Technology Sales Co. and provide $21 million of capital to the new entity. Hitachi and Mitsubishi plan to consolidate their overseas sales offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.