Fujitsu likely to miss PC sales target in 2012

Fujitsu is likely to miss its personal computer sales target this year due to sluggish demand in Europe and backlash against Japanese products over regional tensions with China.

 

TOKYO: Fujitsu is likely to miss its personal computer sales target this year due to sluggish demand in crisis-hit Europe as well as a backlash against Japanese products over regional tensions with China.

Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto told reporters the firm, which makes microchips, smartphones and computers, was likely to miss its target to sell 7 million PCs this fiscal year to March, predicting sales of between 6 and 7 million.

Yamomoto also said the launch of Microsoft's latest Windows 8 operating system was not reviving sales of devices as it had previously hoped.

The company, Japan's largest IT service provider, cut its full-year operating profit outlook by 5 percent to 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in October, citing reduced sales of electronic products and chips and a decline in orders in Europe.

The division that makes cellphones and PCs made up 24.3 percent of Fujitsu's overall sales last year.

The executive also said Fujitsu would unveil a restructuring plan for its semiconductor business in March. Sources have previously said that Fujitsu has held talks to sell its main semiconductor plant in western Japan to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker.

Facing sky-high costs of upgrading infrastructure and price pressure from the likes of Samsung Electronics, Japanese chipmakers are scrambling to outsource production and restructure loss-making businesses.

Renesas Electronics, the world's No. 1 maker of microcontroller chips used in vehicles, was bailed out by a taxpayer-backed fund. Domestic media said earlier this year that Fujitsu, Panasonic and Renesas were in talks to merge their struggling system LSI chip divisions.

Posted in: IT News