Renesas to Let 17% of Workers Leave, Take 85 Billion-Yen Charge

Renesas Electronics Corp. (6723), the world’s largest microcontroller maker, will let about 17 percent of its workforce leave through an early-retirement program as the unprofitable company seeks to restructure.

Renesas got 7,511 buyout applications from workers and the company will accept all of them, it said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. The manufacturer will take a 85 billion-yen ($1.1 billion) charge in the fiscal second quarter for the worker buyout program, it said.

The chipmaker, whose customers include Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Nintendo Co., said it expects to save 54 billion yen annually from the reduction. The Kawasaki, Japan-based company said in July it would eliminate 5,000 jobs and obtained 97 billion yen in financial support from its major shareholders and banks last month as it seeks to be profitable for the first time since it was set up in 2010.

Renesas said it’s reviewing the impact on its earnings forecasts.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshinori Eki in Tokyo at yeki@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net