TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Toshiba said it plans to invest more than ever before in its semiconductor business this fiscal year due to the popularity of mobile telephones, portable music players and digital cameras.
Toshiba said it would raise previously planned capital expenditure in semiconductors by 63 billion yen (531 million dollars) to meet fast-growing demand for NAND flash memory.
The additional investment will increase Toshiba's total semiconductor capital investment in the year to March to 289 billion yen, against the original forecast of 225 billion yen.
"The revised figure represents the largest investment the company has directed toward the semiconductor business in a single fiscal year," Toshiba said in a statement.
The NAND flash memory market is growing rapidly on the back of increased demand for mobile phones, USB memory, MP3 music players, digital cameras and memory cards, the company said.
"The market is shifting to higher-density NAND memory, able to store information-rich image and music data," it said.
"Toshiba will meet this growing demand with proactive investments in production capacity, by promoting development of advanced process technologies, and by continuing to lead the industry in multi-level cell technologies," it said.
The announcement reflects a wider trend of rising investment by Japanese companies in response to improving corporate conditions as the world's second largest economy crawls out of a decade-long lull.
Last week Toshiba said its net profits had rocketed more than 13-fold year-on-year in the quarter to December, while even troubled industry icon Sony posted record profit and sales for the third quarter.
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