TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Denso Corp, a major manufacturer of semiconductors used in automobiles and a main supplier to Toyota Motor Corp, may consider spinning off its chip business, a top executive told Bloomberg News on Friday.
“We need to think about whether the time will come when we sell semiconductors, alone, externally,” Bloomberg quoted Denso’s chief technology officer, Yoshifumi Kato, as saying in an interview.
Nothing had been decided on a split and the company’s focus for now was on meeting internal chip demand, Bloomberg cited Kato as saying.
Denso had no immediate comment.
Kato said last week the company expected demand for auto chips to be about a third higher by 2025 than it was in 2020, as the key component was increasingly used in fossil-fuel cars, electric vehicles and autonomous drive technology.
A global chip shortage has plagued companies from smartphone makers to consumer electronics firms and car makers following a surge in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic eased in many places.
The shortage has forced companies including Toyota to repeatedly cut production.
(Writing by David DolanEditing by Chang-Ran Kim, Robert Birsel)
