Japanese electronics makers Matsushita Electric and NEC are in talks with Texas Instruments to create a joint venture to make chips for third-generation mobile telephones.
Advanced phones which let users exchange music and images and surf the Internet have come to dominate the market in Japan, the pioneering country for 3G.The two electric giants and the US chipmaker want to set up the new venture in Japan as early as this summer and develop chips for 3G phones both by Matsushita, best known for its Panasonic brand, and NEC, the Nihon Keizai business daily said.
The companies are expected to sign an agreement this month and will also provide parts to other phone producers inside and outside Japan, it said.The new venture will likely be capitalized at around 10 billion yen (85 million dollars), it added.”It’s true that the five companies are discussing possible cooperation in the area of third-generation mobile phones but nothing has been finalized yet,” said NEC spokesman Toshinori Arai.
Matsushita also released similar remarks. A spokesman for Texas Instruments declined to comment on the report. At the outset, NEC and Matsushita subsidiary Panasonic Mobile Communications (PMC) will each hold about 30 percent in the venture with the rest split equally between Matsushita, TI and NEC semiconductor subsidiary NEC Electronics, the Nihon Keizai said.
