Vaio Corp., the personal computer (PC) maker has been rumored to reach consensus on a tripartite merger with industry rivals Toshiba and Fujitsu. The probable merger aims to give birth of a PC giant capable of dominating Japan and weathering a competitive global PC market.
The merged entity is expected to represent as a significant rival to the largest Japanese PC manufacturer, Lenovo NEC. The merger deal is predicted to be announced by the end of March, reports The Verge quoting Hidemi Moue, Chief Executive Officer of Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), owning entity of Vaio.
Vaio expects to own the largest stake in the merged enterprise. The merger may help the trio to save expenditure on research and development while scaling production, forecasts Bloomberg, also citing JIP CEO as the source.
The rumored merger reflects the consolidation of Japanese display makers and semiconductor firms. The dominance of smart phones and tablets has squeezed the global PC market. The global PC shipments have witnessed their lowest figures in 2015 since initiation of the global financial crisis, reports Gizmodo. Following the rumor, Toshiba's shares have jumped 8.2% to close at ¥174.7 and recorded the biggest gain in almost five years. Fujitsu shares have ended 2.5% higher while Vaio is not listed till now. The potential venture will focus on overseas markets while other forms of hardware remain as a possibility, predicts Moue. Moue's prediction is based on Vaio's recent release of a Windows 10 smart phone and planning for a robot companion product. The tripartite deal has been analyzed as meaningful for building a niche consumer base in Japan. However, this approach of merging poses a little chance of success outside Japan, presumes Damian Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. in Tokyo. Combined operation of the trio is believed to command about a third of the Japanese market. It is expected to appear in contention to the No. 1 spot with a joint venture between Lenovo and Japan's NEC Corp. NEC Lenovo has controlled around 29% of PC shipments in Japan from July to September, according to the data revealed by IDC. Fujitsu and Toshiba follow with 17% and 12% respectively while Vaio doesn't disclose sales numbers.
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