Hitachi may cut 20,000 jobs: report

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's biggest electronics manufacturer, Hitachi, is poised to cut 20,000 jobs and move ahead with a full-scale restructuring of its semiconductor operations, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper has reported.

The news follows unconfirmed reports on Saturday that Toshiba Corp, Japan's largest chipmaker, would also cut 20,000 jobs globally, more than 10 percent of its work force.

The mass-circulation Yomiuri said Hitachi was in the "final stages" of deciding whether to slash its total workforce of about 340,000 by 20,000, and reorganise or consolidate its assembly plants for semiconductors at home, Reuters reports.

Hitachi planned to cut its workforce by reducing the number of recruits as well as voluntary retirement, Yomiuri said.

Hitachi had already announced plans to cut spending on semiconductor plant and equipment by 36.4 percent to 140 billion yen this business year.

While carrying out a large-scale restructuring to streamline its semiconductor operations, Hitachi would 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.

For the 2001/02 year from April 1, Hitachi had forecast a group net profit of 90 billion yen and an operating profit of 280 billion yen on sales of 8.75 trillion yen.

Hitachi officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.

Although Japan's chip and electronics makers enjoyed robust sales and profits during the first half of 2000/01 when the information technology boom was in full swing, they were hit hard by a sudden falloff late last autumn in global demand for personal computers, cellphones and other IT gadgetry.