Toshiba to Boost Chip Investment

Toshiba Corp., Japan’s second-biggest chip maker, will increase investment at its semiconductor business to boost production, a company spokesman said.

Junichi Nagaki said details would be given by President Tadashi Okamura at a news conference today to mark the opening of a new line at its Yokkaichi factory.

Toshiba is raising spending by 13% to a record 203 billion yen ($1.92 billion) from 179 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 31, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

The Tokyo-based company will increase output of 300-millimeter (12-inch) wafers at its Yokkaichi production site to 37,500 wafers a month by the first half of fiscal 2007, the newspaper said.

The factory is a joint investment with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SanDisk Corp.

Toshiba expects a recovery in demand for consumer electronics such as camera-equipped mobile phones and digital cameras to begin in the second half of the fiscal year ending in March 2006, the newspaper said.