Hitachi, Toshiba Expected to Cut Thousands of Jobs

Two of Japan’s largest electronics groups, Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp., each are looking at cutting 20,000 jobs because of the global tech slowdown and Japan’s worsening economic slump, media reported.

The cuts come after competitors NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. said they would ax jobs as Japan’s lumbering electronics giants face their second round of massive retrenchments in less than three years.

The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported Sunday that Hitachi, Japan’s biggest electronics manufacturer, was poised to cut 20,000 jobs and move ahead with a full-scale restructuring of its semiconductor operations.

The news followed reports Saturday that Toshiba, Japan’s largest chip maker, also would cut 20,000 jobs globally, more than 10% of its work force.

Yomiuri said Hitachi was in the final stages of deciding on the cut, representing about 6% of its total work force of about 340,000, and consolidating semiconductor manufacturing.

Hitachi already had announced plans to cut spending on semiconductor plant and equipment by 36.4% to $1.17 billion this business year.

While carrying out a large-scale restructuring to streamline its semiconductor operations, Hitachi will shift its business focus to growth areas, including software-related business, Yomiuri said.

Hitachi was expected to fall far short of its earlier profit forecast for the business year to March 2002, Yomiuri said.

Hitachi officials were not available to comment on the report.

On Saturday, the mass-circulation Asahi said, without quoting sources, that Toshiba would lay off workers overseas and, like NEC and Fujitsu, probably would take a softer approach at home with voluntary retirements and transfers to other companies.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported the domestic payroll cuts would exceed 10,000.