Struggling electronics maker Sharp Corp. is considering cutting about 1,000 additional jobs to help reduce costs, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
Jobs may be cut in loss-making units such as the solar cell section, the sources said. The company, however, has not worked out details, including the size of the cull and whether to solicit voluntary retirements, they said.
Sharp is facing difficulties in areas including its mainstay liquid crystal display business. It solicited 3,000 voluntary retirements each in 2012 and 2015.
As of March, Sharp had about 44,000 employees in Japan and overseas.
Staff shrinkage is among ideas that may be included in the company's new business plan, the sources said.
Terry Gou, chairman of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which agreed to acquire the company and inject ¥388 billion into its turnaround, promised to retain Sharp's workforce after the takeover.
But he is also eager to overhaul Sharp's money-losing businesses and invest in areas likely to grow, such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels.
By using the capital injection from Hon Hai, Sharp plans to invest about ¥200 billion in OLED development.
For fiscal 2015, Sharp expects an operating loss of ¥170 billion on sales of ¥2.45 trillion.
Sharp is scheduled to announce earnings on May 12.