The main ingredient of a semiconductor is silicon, but it might as well be pyrite, or fools gold. That is because consistently making money out of chips is notoriously difficult. Cyclical demand means that profits are volatile, and new kinds of chips quickly become commoditised. The business is also highly capital-intensive: a new fabrication plant, or fab, costs $3 billion-5 billion, and new facilities must be built every few years as technology advances.
Accordingly, many Western technology firms, such as Philips, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Siemens, long ago spun off their chipmaking units in order to focus on the final products, rather than the bits inside them. Japans huge electronics conglomerates have largely resisted this fab lite strategy. This now seems to be changing, though the companies willingness to let go fully is still in doubt.
On October 18th Sony said it would put its processor-chip division into a joint venture with Toshiba, which will also buy Sonys chipmaking facilities. Sony will no longer have to make huge investments in chip technology, and will still be sure of a supply of processors for its PlayStation 3 games consoles and other products. Its chip division lost 10 billion last year, and the company has been getting rid of non-core businesses. Last month it floated its financial-services arm, raising nearly $3 billion. For its part Toshiba, one of the worlds biggest chipmakers, will gain economies of scale.
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