Renesas Electronics

Renesas Electronics Corporation (ルネサス エレクトロニクス株式会社) is a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo. The name "Renesas" is a contraction of "Renaissance Semiconductor for Advanced Solutions." The company was established in 2002 as Renesas Technology through the merger of the semiconductor divisions of Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric, excluding their DRAM businesses.[4] In 2010, Renesas Technology merged with NEC Electronics to form the current company and adopting its present name.[5]

Renesas was among the world's six largest semiconductor companies during the 2000s and early 2010s.[6] As of 2023, it ranked 16th globally in semiconductor sales and second in Japan. In 2024, it ranked second in the automotive microcontroller (MCU) market behind Infineon Technologies, and third in the overall MCU market behind NXP Semiconductors and Infineon.

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] and Steradian Semiconductors.[28]

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]

Products

Corporate affairs

The largest stockholders and their ownership ratio of Renesas are as follows as of [51][52][53]

At the beginning of June 2022, Renesas announced its completion of an approx. 200 billion yen worth buyback of its shares.[54]

At the end of September 2013, Renesas issued new shares through third-party allotment resulting in INCJ becoming the new largest shareholder and non-parental controlling shareholder.[55]

In early May 2012, NEC transferred part of its stake in Renesas to its employee pension trust. As a result, the NEC pension fund held 32.4 percent of Renesas while NEC had 3.0 percent.[56]

Manufacturing sites

As of 2022, the in-house wafer fabrication of the semiconductor device is conducted by Renesas Electronics and Renesas Semiconductor Manufacturing, a wholly owned subsidiary, operating five front-end plants in the following areas:[63] The back-end facilities, directly affiliated to Renesas Electronics and its subsidiaries, are located in:[63][64] In May 2022 Renesas announced the re-opening of the "Kofu" fab, which will utilize the 300mm geometry for the fabrication of power semiconductors. The facility is scheduled to be online in 2024.[65]

• Naka, Takasaki, Saijo, Kawashiri, Palm Bay

• Yonezawa, Oita, Nishiki, Beijing, Suzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Penang

External links