Renesas unveils restructuring plan - FT.com Renesas Electronics, the struggling Japanese manufacturer of automotive microcontrollers, on Monday unveiled the first of what is expected to be a series of restructuring measures as it seeks to escape deepening financial losses. Renesas is trying to avoid the fate of its sister chipmaker Elpida Memory, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Both companies were created as spin-offs of three larger technology groups - Hitachi, NEC and Mitsubishi Electric - and both have had trouble competing with lower-cost Taiwanese rivals. Shares in Renesas fell 11 per cent on Monday in response to reports that the company was considering asking its former parent groups, which remain its largest shareholders, to lead a bailout involving up to Y100bn ($1.3bn) in fresh capital. The stock has lost 58 per cent of its value over the past month. Plans being circulated by Renesas among bankers also suggest it may cut 12,000 jobs, or about a quarter of its workforce. On Monday, the company said it had agreed to broaden an outsourcing arrangement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. TSMC is to make 40-nanometre microchips for Renesas, in addition to the less sophisticated 90-nanometre units it already produces for the Japanese group. Renesas suffered a net loss of Y62.6bn in the financial year that ended on March 31, a result of falling demand as well as costs related to Japan's March 2011 earthquake, which badly damaged one of its factories. On May 9 it said it could not provide guidance for the current year. One area where Renesas maintains a sizeable presence is the motor industry, where it supplies about 40 per cent of the tiny single-chip computers needed for electronic door locks and power windows. During the disruption at its plant last year, automobile production slowed worldwide.