By Mani Raj
Toshiba Corp. - Japan's leading chipmaker said Wednesday it will stop the production of mobile phones in Japan due to low demand.
Consumers are hesitant to buy new mobile phone handsets amid an economic slowdown. The global shipments of mobile phones dropped to 3 million units in the last fiscal year from 6 million units the previous year.
Toshiba will continue to make cell phone at its plant in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. It will outsource some of its mobile phone production. This move will not result in job losses because workers will be assigned different job positions.
Toshiba's net loss was a record 343.6 billion yen for the fiscal year upto March, compared to a net profit of 127.4 billion yen in the previous year. This was Toshiba's biggest loss ever and also its first annual net loss in the past seven years.
Toshiba's annual sales is down to 13% to 6.65 trillion yen due to its slowing business in semiconductors as well as digital equipment and home electronics.
Toshiba's share fell 1.9% Wednesday and closed at 355 yen.
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