Toshiba Invests $3.2 billion in Japanese Chip Plant

Toshiba has announced plans to spend 360 billion yen ($3.2 billion) on constructing a new semiconductor plant in Japan to grow the firm's chip business and potentially recover from recent financial disasters. Toshiba says the investment is focused on growing the flash chip business -- despite recent financial troubles.

As reported by Reuters, the Tokyo-based company announced the plans on Thursday, stating the investment will take place over the next three years.

The plant will make the firm's proprietary 3D flash memory, used in both commercial and business applications worldwide, including printers, consoles, television sets and servers.

The new Japanese facility is not expected to produce chips until 2018. In September last year, Toshiba admitted that the company had overstated its profits by almost $2 billion over the course of seven years. The firm's high targets encouraged executives to inflate profit results to meet these requirements, but as the scheme unravelled, stockholders were left shocked and share prices plummeted. 

Since the company admitted the accounting issues, Toshiba Chief Executive Masashi Muromachi has had to implement over 10,000 job cuts and the sale of loss-making units and businesses. Following the accounting scandal, the Japanese tech giant said it would adopt the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for its earnings reports, in order to improve transparency and clarity in the future.

However, Toshiba also used Thursday's investment announcement to mention a delay in adopting this standard, caused by the accounting fracas last year. On Thursday, Toshiba also announced plans to sell its medical equipment unit to Canon for 665.5 billion yen ($5.9 billion). The sale means Toshiba can avoid seeking additional loans from banks to stay afloat in the firm's financial crisis.