TOKYO - JAPANESE high-tech giant Fujitsu Ltd. said on Tuesday that it was ending production of hard disk drive (HDD) heads as part of an overhaul of the loss-making business.
The firm said it would book a one-off loss of 5.0 billion yen (S$83.8 million) because of its earlier investment in a plant in Nagano city, northwest of Tokyo, making the components.
The facility will continue to make circuit boards and employees working in the HDD head business will be moved to new jobs, it added.
The HDD head production will cease at the end of March but Fujitsu is continuing talks with several companies over a possible sale of its overall HDD business, company spokesman Takashi Koto said.
'We are continuing the negotiations with several companies,' he said, declining to disclose the names of the firms.
Toshiba Corp. has confirmed it is talking with Fujitsu about a possible purchase of the business.
Fujitsu has been trying to focus on core growth areas in recent years, ending production of plasma televisions, a technology it was the first in the world to sell, as competition had grown fierce. -- AFP
