History
Renesas Electronics was established in April 2010 through the merger of Renesas Technology and NEC Electronics.[7] Renesas Technology had been formed in 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric, combining their non-DRAM semiconductor businesses.[4][8] NEC had earlier spun off its semiconductor division as NEC Electronics in 2002.[9][10] The companies had previously separated their DRAM operations into Elpida Memory, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and was acquired by Micron Technology.[11]
In December 2010, Renesas Mobile Corporation was formed by integrating Renesas’s mobile business with assets acquired from Nokia.[12] However, the company later exited the mobile sector, transferring LTE assets to Broadcom in 2013 and dissolving the subsidiary in 2014.[13][14]
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and flooding in Thailand severely impacted Renesas’s operations.[15] A major restructuring followed, involving the sale of domestic factories and a capital infusion from the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), which became the company's largest shareholder in 2013.[16][17][18][19] Renesas returned to profitability in fiscal year 2013.[20]
From 2016 onward, Renesas embarked on a series of acquisitions to strengthen its automotive and industrial semiconductor portfolio. It acquired Intersil in 2017[21] and Integrated Device Technology (IDT) in 2019.[22][23] In 2021, it purchased Dialog Semiconductor for $5.9 billion,[24][25] followed by additional acquisitions including Celeno Communications,[26] Reality AI,[27]
In March 2021, a fire at the Naka Factory temporarily disrupted production, but operations resumed the following month.[29][30] The company also reopened its Kofu fabrication facility to support power semiconductor production, with operations expected to begin in 2024.
Renesas continued its expansion through 2023 and 2024 with the acquisitions of Panthronics,[31] gallium nitride chipmaker Transphorm,[32][33] and PCB design software firm Altium.[34][35] It also signed a long-term silicon carbide wafer supply agreement with Wolfspeed and entered a strategic partnership with Vietnamese EV maker VinFast.[36][37]
In April 2023, Renesas was added to the Nikkei 225 index,[38] and in December 2022, it received the “Outstanding Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Company Award” from the Global Semiconductor Alliance.[39]
