Financial scandals this year has pressured Toshiba to speed up the restructure of its less profitable businesses. Following the confirmation on Wednesday that it will be selling its CMOS sensor business to Sony, market rumors have pointed to the company’s intention to withdraw its white LED business, which has incurred consecutive losses. The company might withdraw from discrete component businesses, reported Japanese media Asahi Shimbun.
According to the report, Toshiba is evaluating whether it should exit from the money losing white LED business. Initially, Toshiba was optimistic about white LED business market growth potential, and poured in investments a few years ago. However, its late start in the white LED business has been the main cause of its struggling business.
Toshiba’s semiconductor business has been its most profitable sector, but aside from NAND Flash used in memory products, its other products have incurred losses.
Additional reports from NHK 27 noted Toshiba intends to shutdown certain appliance, automotive and other discrete component production. The ailing Japanese company is also considering to end less profitable disperse component production capacity, and reevaluate certain system LSI products and manufacturing protocols, said a person familiar with the matter.
About 33% of Toshiba share values have been wiped out since the start of 2015, according to data compiled by SysJust.