[News] Rohm Reportedly Warns of Delays in Talks with Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric After Denso Exit
Shortly after Denso withdrew its bid for Rohm in late April, the spotlight has shifted back to the proposed three-way power semiconductor alliance involving Rohm, Toshiba Device & Storage, and Mitsubishi Electric. But according to Nikkei xTECH, citing Rohm president Katsumi Azuma, negotiations are proving more complex—and slower—than initially expected.
As highlighted by the report, Rohm is currently in separate talks with Toshiba Device & Storage on a broader integration, while also exploring with Mitsubishi Electric a carve-out of power semiconductor units into a jointly funded venture.
However, Rohm president Katsumi Azuma, as per the report, noted that key hurdles remain, including how to integrate manufacturing assets, R&D resources, and sales operations, adding that they “want to avoid a situation where too many captains steer the ship onto the mountain.”
This cautious outlook is further reinforced by South Korean media outlet Global Economic News, which reports that the chances of a successful tie-up remain slim amid competing interests and an ongoing battle for strategic control.
Notably, the report highlights that Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba have already advanced their own 300mm wafer production plans independently, raising concerns that the industry may have missed the critical window for process optimization and large-scale integration synergies.
As the report notes, Japan has seen consortium-style restructurings before, such as Elpida Memory and Renesas Electronics, where business units were brought together after becoming difficult for parent companies to manage. However, cases of Japanese firms voluntarily joining forces to pursue global market leadership remain rare, the report adds.
Denso’s Proposal Highlights Toyota’s Semiconductor Push
With independent consolidation stalling, Denso’s earlier bid for Rohm—backed by Toyota—represented an alternative attempt to stabilize the sector through vertical integration, though that deal eventually collapsed.
Global Economic News further explains that as the shift to EVs accelerates and autonomous driving technologies advance, securing semiconductor supply has become a matter of survival for automakers. Against this backdrop, Toyota’s push to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers helped position Rohm—a relatively smaller domestic player with an existing strategic partnership—as a natural target, according to the report.
However, the deal eventually failed, as Denso’s bid for Rohm, driven by Toyota’s semiconductor localization strategy, ultimately ran into the industry’s deeply rooted decentralized structure and Rohm’s determination to defend management control, the report suggests.
In the meantime, Rohm’s struggle, as pointed out by the report, could be seen as a microcosm of Japan’s power semiconductor makers, which are increasingly squeezed between Europe’s technological lead and mounting price pressure from China. European players such as Infineon Technologies and STMicroelectronics have already spun off from broader electronics groups, evolving into specialized chipmakers and aggressively investing to cement their positions as the global market’s top two players, the report notes.
Read more
- [News] Inside Mitsubishi Electric, Rohm, Toshiba Talks and Denso’s Move: Japan’s Power Chip Consolidation Push
- [News] ROHM Secures GaN Technology License from TSMC, to Build Production Line by 2027
(Photo credit: Rohm)
