Japan's Sanyo Electric plans to shut down Korea Tokyo Silicon, its semiconductor chip plant in Masan, Korea, in October at the earliest, Reuters reported on September 30. The entire staff of 304 at Sanyo's Masan plant will be laid off. Furthermore, six sales units in Hong Kong will be closed as well.

Previously in 2006, Sanyo spun off its semiconductor chip production business. Following the shutdown of its chip plant, Sanyo is expected to focus on its collaboration with Nippon Oil for solar cells and batteries instead, according to a Bloomberg report.