[AdmSmith]

Panasonic, an electronics manufacturing giant, has today sold its silicon manufacturing business, marking the end of an era of Japanese semiconductor manufacturing. Once a big player in silicon manufacturing scene, particularly in the ‘80s and ‘90s era when Japan's silicon output was huge, Panasonic was considered one of the main players in the silicon manufacturing business. However, due to some difficulties like operating a business with a loss of over $215 million yearly, and having to compete with Chinese and Taiwanese silicon manufacturing firms, Panasonic is selling its silicon production lines.

The subsidiary of Panasonic called “Semiconductors Solutions” is being sold to Nuvoton Technology Corporation, Taiwan, a semiconductor company that spun-off from Winbond Electronics Corporation in 2008, where Winbond still owns 61% stake in Nuvoton despite the spinoff. Additionally, Panasonic forecasts a 27% drop in operating profit for this physical year, with the declining semiconductor manufacturing business counted. The reasoning behind this sale is that the company plans to exit all declining businesses that also include LCD manufacturing, as Chinese alternative manufacturers are stiff competition for Panasonic when it comes to pricing and panel output.

https://www.techpowerup.com/261612/panasonic-exits-silicon-manufacturing-business

[AdmSmith]

China-based Advanced Fiber Resources (Zhuhai) Ltd (AFR), a provider of passive optical components (mainly for industrial laser, telecom, data center, fiber sensing, biomedical and academic research fields), has agreed to acquire the assets associated with certain lithium niobate (LiNbO3)-based optical component product lines developed and manufactured in San Donato, Italy by Lumentum Holdings Inc of Milpitas, CA, USA, which makes photonics products for optical networking and lasers for industrial and consumer markets.

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2019/dec/lumentum-021219.shtml