Major shareholders of loss-making Renesas Electronics Corp agreed in principle to provide 50 billion yen ($633 million) in a support package that includes loans, sources close to the matter said on Wednesday.
Renesas, the world's fifth-largest chipmaker and a product of successive mergers of Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC Corp, has been struggling in the face of increased overseas competition and high costs as it tries to restructure its loss-making system LSI business.
Sources said Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric would provide loans to the company, while NEC has said it is still considering ways to support the chipmaker.
A separate source close to the matter told Reuters earlier that NEC was not able to provide loans or fresh capital to Renesas as it was struggling with its own turnaround plan. NEC had told the other stakeholders it could help Renesas by putting a moratorium on payments and other measures, the source said. ($1 = 79.0300 Japanese yen)
