Fujitsu ropes in UBS to flog its chip business

CHIP MAKER Fujitsu is looking to offload its chip business and has hired Swiss bank UBS to find bidders.

Fujitsu, which is a longtime SPARC licensee and last year introduced the K Computer cluster that took top spot in the prestigious TOP500 list, is looking to dump its chip business due to flagging sales. The firm is said to have hired UBS to find potential buyers with the price target in the region of $2.6bn.

Masahiro Yamane, a spokesman for Fujitsu told Bloomberg that no decision had been made and did not provide any further information. The firm might be assembling world class supercomputer clusters but lower demand for chips that end up in televisions is hurting the firm's bottom line.

Yuichi Ishida, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities said that while Fujitsu might be looking for buyers for its chip business, the company could find it hard to find suitors. He said, "As the semiconductor business has turned into a mature industry, it may be a bit difficult to find buyers."

Since Fujitsu might find it hard to persuade another company to buy its chip business, one that is known not to generate enough cash, it could be a long, drawn out process before Japan loses yet another chip vendor. µ