NEC Corp. announced Tuesday it will cut 4,000 personnel in Japan and abroad by April and withdraw from DRAM chip operations in 2004 amid a global shrinkage in information-technology markets.

The chip and personal computer maker also said it will shut down its experimental semiconductor production facility in Kanagawa Prefecture, and consolidate three chip assembly plants in Fukuoka, Oita and Kumamoto prefectures into a company to be set up in Fukuoka Prefecture in October, it said.

Two assembly plants in Yamagata Prefecture will also be merged during the second half of the current fiscal year.