Panasonic has announced it`ll be selling off its minority stake in its semiconductor joint venture for $250M to Taiwan`s Nuvoton Technology Corp after deciding it would need to invest more than it is prepared to do to compete and expand in the market.
Back in 2014, Panasonic offloaded a majority of its semiconductor unit to a joint venture with Isreali semiconductor manufacturer TowerJazz. The joint venture, which is owned 51% by TowerJazz and 49% by Panasonic, was initially believed to be sold as a whole, but TowerJazz has since confirmed in a statement that it will retain its majority stake and ultimate control of the operation following the transition:
`TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, clarifies following recent press releases in connection with the sale of Panasonic semiconductor business to Nuvoton that it will not sell its TPSCo shares and will maintain its 51% ownership and Board control in TPSCo.`
Part of the semiconductor business is involved with making imaging sensors for cameras and smartphones, as well as for numerous industrial purposes. It isn´t clear at the moment exactly how this will impact the company´s camera division or the upcoming 8K organic sensor planned for the 2020 Olympics, but all intellectual property and contracts are to be transferred to the buyer in June next year - a month before the start of the Olympics.
Panasonic says it`s tried to streamline its semiconductor business and that it has divested parts of the business already to make it less expensive to operate, but that it would need much more investment to expand the division and to compete in an aggressive market.
The sale may not have very much effect at all as the majority of Panasonic´s Lumix cameras use third-party sensors, and the majority of sensors made by the division being sold were for the automotive business and industrial applications. However, the division lists 16MP CMOS sensors for stills cameras and 20MP Super 3 ...
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