Toshiba, recovering from a $1.3bn accounting scandal, could exit peripheral chip businesses while concentrating on its NAND core. Reuters and Japan’s Nikkei reported loss-making parts of Toshiba’s chip business lines, such as systems LSI (Large Scale Integration), microcontrollers, analogue semi-conductor chips, and discrete chips used in industrial machinery, vehicles, and domestic appliances, are all up for sale. One interested party is the Development Bank of Japan Inc.

In the NAND area, Toshiba’s operations are profitable and it is second in the market behind Samsung. Selling the non-core businesses could generate $1.68bn and this cash could be re-invested in its flash business. There are some 8,000 employees in Toshiba’s disk business, and layoffs are being pondered at a Philippines plant it operates.