Toshiba plants face closure

Japan’s number one chipmaker Toshiba Corp is to shut down several semiconductor plants in Japan to cope with a plunge in global demand for electronics goods, a major Japanese newspaper reports.

The Asahi daily said Toshiba will also likely incur an operating loss of 200bn yen (€1.7bn) in the fiscal year ending March 2009.

Toshiba spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida declined to confirm the report, but said the company had earlier forecast an operating profit of 150bn yen (€1.26bn).