Latest information on potential Sony acquisition of factory producing Wii U’s eDRAM
More information has emerged regarding Sony’s potential acquisition of the factory that’s producing Wii U’s eDRAM. You can find the latest below.
– Sony is now considering an acquisition plan that would require an initial purchase investment of seven billion yen (67 million dollars)
– A further investment of 30 Billion Yen (287 million dollars) is being considered to convert production to CMOS sensors for smartphones
– Sony will likely decide on the pros and cons of the acquisition by January’s end
– An acquisition would save the jobs of about 70% of the 1000 employees, excluding those working on semiconductors for automotive, as the factory was scheduled to close before Sony’s intervention
– The low final purchase price has been determined due to the fact that Renesas is planning to move part of the facilities and equipment of the Tsuruoka factory to its main plant at Naka, in the Ibaraki prefecture
– This leads to multiple possible long run outcomes for Nintendo
– Nintendo still hasn’t announced official plans to relocate the production of Wii U’s embedded DRAM
– If Sony converts only part of the production at Tsuruoka to CMOS sensors and retains the ability to produce the DRAM, Nintendo could acquire the chip from the rival
– If Renesas manages to restore production of the DRAM at Naka, Nintendo could continue to receive stock from there
– In this case, Nintendo would just change the location of manufacturing
– If Sony fully converts the production of Tsuruoka to CMOS sensors and Renesas doesn’t manage or intend to restore production of the DRAM at Naka, Nintendo will have to find another supplier for the long run
– Nintendo’s in-house stocks of the chip are expected to last at least for a while
