Japansese Fujitsu will withdraw from semiconductor manufacturing and plans to sell two fabrication facilities. The move comes as the company seeks to redirect its focus to information technology services such as cloud computing.

Fujitsu's chip business include two factories in Mie and Fukushima prefectures.

The Mie plant, which produces system chips for image processing used in home electronics, will be sold to Taiwanese chip maker United Microelectronics (UMC). Fujitsu and UMC plan to establish a semiconductor foundry by the end of the fiscal year and transfer ownership of the plant to the joint venture. Fujitsu hopes that the joint venture will attract
additional investment from other chipmakers and foundries, aiming at lowering its ownership to under 50% by fiscal 2016.

Fujitsu had announced last year the decision to sell the Mie plant to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC0, but the was deal obviously cancelled.

Fujitsu has been also negotiating with ON Semiconductor to sell its other facility in Fukushima Prefecture that mainly makes microcomputers for automobiles.

The Japanese semiconductor industry has been undergoing major shifts in recent years. Toshiba and Sony are effectively the only two Japanese companies actively investing in domestic production.