NEC Corp. said Friday it will cooperate with Tianma Micro-electronics Co. in the liquid crystal display business by handing over a 70 percent stake in its wholly owned LCD panel unit to China's largest maker of small and midsize panels.
The move, to take place around July, is in line with the NEC's efforts to exit unprofitable operations and focus on more promising business, including cloud computing and the production of batteries for electric cars, NEC said.
The subsidiary, NEC LCD Technologies Ltd., based in Kawasaki, will be renamed after the Chinese company acquires it, but the workers will keep their jobs.
The subsidiary was founded in 2003, a spinoff of the parent firm's LCD panel business. It makes products for health care and industrial uses and employs about 600 workers.
Its business has been faltering amid the weak economy and the appreciation of the yen. Its only manufacturing base is in the city of Akita.
Tianma makes panels for cell phones.