Renesas Electronics has announced that they will withdraw from the microwave devices business to strengthen and focus more on optical devices (photo-couplers, laser diodes, photo diodes). Renesas has been selling low noise amplifiers, RF switches, mixers and transistors for the wireless segment based on GaAs and SiGe for some time now. The business was profitable, however with an increase in the number of manufacturers, specially in Taiwan developing these products, they expect the profitability to decline.
At this points they have no development plans for the future of microwave devices. They have not been investing in the technology and product development of semiconductor business from some time. The profit from this business only makes to 1% of their annual profit. Renesas are in discussions with their customers to finalize the closure so that it creates minimum disruption for their customers. Based on their requests and requirements, they will stock devices in advance.
From now on Renesas will focus more on optical devices as there is a strong market growth due to production reforms. In this segment, they will focus on the photo-couplers for industrial applications and will accelerate the development of high-speed lasers for optical communications as well as diodes/photodiodes.
