Toshiba, Fujitsu Widen Loss Forecasts

Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. widened their full-year loss forecasts and slashed targets for sales of personal computers, prompting calls for them to carry out thousands of job cuts earlier than planned.

Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd. said it expects a loss of about $2.25billion for the year ending March 31, worse than the $1.73-billion loss previously forecast, and said it plans to cut 4,000 more jobs. Hitachi, Japan’s third-largest chip maker, already had announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs.

Toshiba said it may have a loss in the year ending March 31 of $2 billion, compared with the $1.5-billion loss expected earlier. Fujitsu, the third-biggest maker of mobile-phone memory chips and Japan’s largest computer maker, changed its forecast to a loss of $2.8 billion, from the $2.3billion projected earlier.

The companies have been squeezed by lower chip prices and weaker sales of personal computers, cell phones and other electronic gear. Investors say Japanese chip makers, which once dominated the memory-chip market, were slow to shed workers, farm out production and reorganize.

Toshiba reiterated it will cut 18,800 jobs, or 10% of its work force, by March 2004. Fujitsu has promised to cut 21,900 jobs, or 12% of its total staff, this fiscal year, and scale back its unprofitable semiconductor business.

In over-the-counter trading, shares of Toshiba fell 17 cents to $3.15 and Fujitsu rose 15 cents to $32.65. On the NYSE, shares of Hitachi fell $2.71 to $63.40.