Toshiba 1998 Annual Report Download - page 12

10. Toshiba Corporation Annual Report 1998
SEMICONDUCTORS
Soft PC sales, lower output of consum er electronics due
to Asian econom ic instability and falling prices of 16M
DRAMs impacted th e sem icon ductor market. Neverth e-
less, expansion con tin ued outside the m em ory sector. In
th is environ m ent, Toshiba strengthen ed its DRAM cost
com petitiveness. Outside the m em ory sector, in vestm en ts
target high-poten tial products: m em ory-em bedded logic
ICs an d other system LSIs, an d ch ip sets for CD-ROM
equipm en t an d m obile com m unication s, am ong oth ers.
In th e m em ory field, Tosh iba is quickly sh iftin g re-
sources to 64M DRAMs. Th is move is accom panied by a
focus on value-added designs offering h igher speeds, lower
en ergy con sum ption and syn ch ronous operation. Tosh iba
was first to introduce th e 0.25-m icron design rule to
achieve the world’s sm allest chip size (79.4mm 2). By th e
sum m er of 1998, Toshiba will h ave switch ed all 64M
DRAM production to 0.25 m icron s, reaffirm ing its global
com petitive edge. Furtherm ore, Tosh iba’s 64M DRAMs
are already com patible with th e 100MHz main m em ory
buses used in next-gen eration , high -speed PCs. Stress is
also bein g placed on flash m em ory, where the popularity
of digital still cam eras an d portable term in als is sparking
high er orders. Research is concen trating on raising
m em ory capacity wh ile cuttin g power con sum ption .
In sem icon ductors oth er th an m em ories, Tosh iba will
draw on stren gth s as an integrated m anufacturer able to
provide total system support wh ile expandin g capabilities
in logic ICs to m eet rising deman d for system LSIs.
Amon g logic products, Toshiba ran ks first in CD-ROM
digital servo ICs. Tosh iba also excels in im agin g LSIs and
RISC processors for n etwork application s. Growth con -
tinues in sales of “dRAMASIC,” mem ory-embedded
devices th at incorporate Tosh iba’s origin al trench struc-
ture technology. In March 1998, sales of a 32-bit RISC
processor com m enced; this processor h as about th ree
tim es th e speed of existin g products. Large volum es of
data can be h andled at h igh speeds. These capabilities
m ake th is processor ideal for portable information ter-
m inals, set-top boxes an d oth er multimedia equipm en t.
➜ Page 13.
RESULTS
Sales of this segment rose 4.5 percent to ¥1,341.8 billion. In semiconductors, the price
decline in 16M DRAMs engendered a sharp drop in sales in the memory business. Results
for other semiconductors were strong, paced by healthy
demand for discrete devices for mobile communications and
logic ICs for CD-ROM applications. Display tubes for computers
were also behind the growth in segment sales.
Electronic Devices & Materials
0
98
97
96
1,341.8
1,284.0
1,371.9
March
4.5
–6.4
4.6
Sales (¥ billion)
TOPICS
With a “ Flash Path,” data from a digital camera
or other device using a SmartMedia card can be
easily uploaded to a PC. Toshiba has formed a
joint venture with Fischer International Systems
Corp. of the U.S. to manufacture and sell this
unique product.
Sales Annual Increase (%)
Notes: 1. See segment information on page 29.
2. Segment sales include intersegment transactions.
Share of Net Sales %
Mar. ’96 ’97 ’98
24.2 21.0 22.0