Renesas Technology Corp. · Tokyo Japan

Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric hope to foster a renaissance in chip making with Renesas Technology. When it debuted in 2003, the joint venture between the two Japanese electronics giants was already one of the largest microchip manufacturers in the world. (The name Renesas is derived from "Renaissance Semiconductor for Advanced Solutions.") The company makes many kinds of semiconductors, including discrete devices, application-specific integrated circuits, microprocessors, memories, and analog chips; it is the world's top maker of microcontroller chips. Hitachi owns 55% of Renesas; Mitsubishi holds the other 45%. Renesas plans to merge with NEC Electronics, forming the largest chip maker in Japan. To read the full description, subscribe now.