Yamaha 2003 Annual Report Download - page 20

18 YAMAHA CORPORATION
the invar materials now being manu-
factured for large-screen desktop-
computer shadow masks and, therefore,
sales, although virtually unchanged
from the previous term, were lower
than projected. Furthermore, we
decided to withdraw from our invar
materials business in July 2003,
as prospects for the restoration of
profitability remain dim.
Strategies and Forecasts
In fiscal 2004, with sound-chip sup-
ply capacity in place, we expect to
increase sales in China, where
mobile phones are becoming more
widespread. In addition, sales are
expected to grow in Europe and the
United States, where demand for
terminals with built-in polyphony
sound chips is projected to increase.
In electronic metals, as part of our
efforts to increase sales and improve
profitability, we are increasing the
production of copper lead frames and
mobile phone parts.
Sales in this segment amounted to
¥60.6 billion, a 65.3% increase com-
pared with the previous term, while
operating income totaled ¥19.3 bil-
lion, a substantial 343.1% increase.
In semiconductors, sales of mobile
phone sound chips increased dramat-
ically. In Japan, as 40-note poly-
phony sound chips have become
widespread and demand for mobile
phones is largely restricted to
replacement due to market satura-
tion, growth in sales of mobile phones
was negligible compared with the
previous term. However, shipments
to China and South Korea increased
dramatically. To meet this demand,
during the second half of fiscal 2003
YAMAHA invested in its own facili-
ties and began consignment produc-
tion at nonaffiliated plants, thereby
significantly raising its supply capac-
ity. In addition, buoyed by favorable
sales of LSI communication chips
for ISDN devices and LSI chips for
amusement devices, the segment
recorded significant increases in
sales and income compared with
the previous term.
In electronic metals, sales increased
compared with the previous term,
benefiting from a partial recovery in
the market for semiconductors and
mobile phones, which led to the
increased production of spring mate-
rials and materials for use in semi-
conductor lead frames. However,
during the term under review, we
had some quality problems with
Electronic
Equipment
and Metal
Products
Mobile Phone Sound Chip YMU 762 왘
These 40-note polyphony sound chips
include built-in ADPCM (Adaptive
Differential Pulse Code Modulation)
sound generators that
can play back human voices and other
recorded sounds.
Lead Frames 왘Lead frames for
semiconductors