Japan's top seven chip companies-Toshiba, Elpida, Sony, Renesas, NEC Electronics, Matsushita, and Fujitsu Microelectronics-plan to cut their combined capex by 21.8% in fiscal 2008, mainly due to a shift away from the weak memory market. The cutbacks, following declines in the previous fiscal year, identify a move by several companies (notably Renesas and Fujitsu) to system chips, work that involves smaller production scales and custom orders, so production (and capacity investments) can be held back based on demand.rnTSMC and UMC (and reportedly SMIC soon) say they plan to raise prices in an effort to offset "structural factors" such as R&D andrnfab costs. The moves also are seen as ways to not only reverse declining ASPs and boost profits, but also pressure customers to file orders ahead of the busy seasonal periods.
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