Description
Renesas Electronics Corporation is a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, initially incorporated in 2002 as Renesas Technology, the consolidated entity of the semiconductor units of Hitachi and Mitsubishi excluding their dynamic random-access memory businesses, to which NEC Electronics merged in 2010, resulting in a minor change in the corporate name and logo to as it is now.
History
Renesas Electronics started operation in April 2010, through the integration of NEC Electronics, established in November 2002 as a spin-off of the semiconductor operations of NEC with the exception of the DRAM business, and Renesas Technology established on April 1, 2003, the non-DRAM chip joint venture of Hitachi and Mitsubishi, with their ownership percentage of 55 and 45 in order. The DRAM businesses of the three had become part of Elpida Memory, which went bankrupt in 2012 before being acquired by Micron Technology.
A basic agreement to merge was reached by April 2010 and materialized on the first day, forming the fourth largest semiconductor company by revenue according to an estimation from iSuppli.
In December 2010, Renesas Mobile Corporation (RMC) was created by integrating the Mobile Multimedia Business Unit of Renesas with the acquired Nokia Wireless Modem Business Unit.
In 2011, Renesas Electronics was adversely affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and flooding in Thailand. In 2012, the company, which had manufacturing, design and sales operations in about 20 countries in 2011, decided to restructure its business, including the sale and consolidation of its Japanese domestic plants, to become profitable. In December 2012, INCJ, a Japanese public-private fund, and several key clients decided to invest in the company. Through the investment, Renesas aimed to secure 150 billion yen as fresh capital by September 2013 and make use of it for investment in development of the microcontroller and analog and power chips for automotive and industrial uses, plant improvements, and corporate acquisitions.
In January 2013, Renesas transferred some of its back-end plants to J-Devices.
In September 2013, Broadcom acquired most of Renesas Mobile Communication.
With the allotment of third-party shares to the nine investors completed in September 2013, INCJ became the largest shareholder in the company. Renesas announced its new business direction and issued its corporate presentation titled "Reforming Renesas” in October 2013.
In the fiscal year ended in March 2014, Renesas recorded its first ever net profit since it started operation as Renesas Electronics Corporation in 2010.
In July 2014, the subsidiary Renesas Mobile Communication was consolidated, after the company had decided to withdraw from the 4G wireless business.
In September 2014, the sale of the display driver IC unit of Renesas to Synaptics has been completed.
In September 2016, Renesas announced that it would acquire Intersil for $3.2 billion. In February 2017, Renesas completed the acquisition.
In April 2017, Renesas unveiled a self-driving concept car at a global developer conference, stating that it will start delivering a new line of products for self-driving cars in December 2017, as it takes on global giants such as Intel. The new technology acts as an onboard nerve center, coordinating and controlling vehicle functions.
In September 2018, Renesas announced that it has agreed to buy Integrated Device Technology for $6.7 billion. The acquisition was completed in March 2019.
In 2020, Renesas announced its plans to wind down its production of diodes and the compound device.
In February 2021, Renesas announced that it has agreed to buy Dialog Semiconductor for $5.9 billion.
