Dark Days for Japan's Chipmakers

From BusinessWeek.com -- Technology:

Things are looking grim for the world's top chipmakers these days. Last week, it was German memory chipmaker Qimonda filing for bankruptcy and Korea's Samsung Electronics reporting its first-ever quarterly loss. This week, it was the Japanese chipmakers' turn: On Jan. 29, Toshiba (6502.T) and NEC Electronics (6723.T) posted quarterly operating losses and revised their annual forecasts to reflect a gloomier outlook. Part of the problem is that the economic downturn has sharply undercut demand for new flat-screen TVs, laptops, video-game consoles, and cars—all of which rely on microprocessors and memory chips.

Read the whole article