Fujitsu Ltd. has named Naoyuki Akikusa, senior managing director, to succeed President Tadashi Sekizawa, it announced March 26.
The appointment will be officially decided at a board of directors meeting in late June, Fujitsu said. Sekizawa, who will complete his eighth term in June, described 59-year-old Akikusa as a strong person who pursues what he believes in and overcomes any friction.
Sekizawa will become chairman without representative rights. He said the firm must adapt to a rapidly changing industry and needs a leader who can foresee trends, adding that his successor will "set the most important target and clear it."
Akikusa joined Fujitsu in 1961 and has been senior managing director in charge of the firm's software business since June 1992. Akikusa said he wants to expand the firm's software business as well as its three main pillars -- mainframe computers, telecommunications networks and semiconductors.
The first task is to improve the firm's financial status, including making U.S. subsidiary Amdahl Corp. profitable in the near future, he said. Amdahl, a computer firm, has been operating in the red and been the target of Fujitsu's restructuring efforts.