Tokyo, july 08: Leading Japanese electronics manufacturer Toshiba said on Monday it had taken full control of a semiconductor joint venture in China and would boost investment in chip production in the country. Toshiba said in a statement it had purchased the remaining five per cent of Wuxi Huazhi Semiconductor, a semiconductor assembling firm, from its partner, Huajin Electronics Group.

The venture, now renamed Toshiba Semiconductor, assembles integrated circuits for television and audio applications, and plans to begin assembling transistors in the future.
Toshiba will invest five billion yen ($42 million) to raise semiconductor production capacity at the firm, lifting capacity tenfold to 30 million units a month, Toshiba said.

China accounted for about seven per cent of worldwide semiconductor demand for the year to March, Toshiba said, forecasting that it would reach 20 per cent in 2010.
Bureau Report