Tsinghua, Infineon Kicking Renesas' Tires

by Junko Yoshida - EEtimes

TOKYO, Nov. 23, 2015 – 

Renesas Electronics, once Japan's most troubled chip giant, has become an investment target attractive to a number of suitors outside Japan, including China's Tsinghua Unigroup and Infineon Technologies in Germany.

Tsinghua's ambitions in the memory chip business are well known. It is reportedly targeting an investment in Renesas as a vehicle for China to gain a foothold in the logic business - especially in the automotive and MCU segments.

Infineon is said to regard Renesas as an ideal fit, based on the Japanese chip vendor's strength in infotainment, head unit and digital cockpit technologies and other areas of automotive electronics where Infineon lags. It's also important that Renesas has a strong position both among Japanese and European automakers. Renesas, for instance, is the only Japanese chip vendor among Audi's strategic R&D partners. Other members belong to the Audi's group are STMicroelectronics and Infineon.

Of course, no company contemplating investment in Renesas is making any public comments yet. But speculation has been rampant among industry sources in Japan in recent weeks.

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