ON Semiconductor to buy Japan firm

Phoenix-based ON Semiconductor Corp. announced plans July 15 to acquire Sanyo Electric Co.’s semiconductor business in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $366 million, according to the Arizona Republic.

It would be ON’s eighth and second-largest acquisition since the former Motorola Inc. unit was recapitalized as a standalone business in 1999. The largest deal was the $915 million acquisition of Idaho’s AMI Semiconductor in 2008.

Based in Gunma, Japan, San-yo Semiconductor Co. has annual sales of about $1.2 billion and employs 8,300 people at manufacturing and packaging facilities in Japan and throughout Asia. No layoffs are immediately planned, the report states.

The deal broadens ON’s product line and gives the Arizona company an important foothold in Japan, where it now has only a modest presence. It also gives ON access to Sanyo’s customers for cross selling.

“It gives us access to the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers whose products are highly sought after all over Asia,” said Donald Colvin, ON’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

In 2009, it was announced that the Pocatello fabrication plant was to be expanded. About 630 people work at ON Semiconductor’s Pocatello eight-inch wafer production plant. The facility specializes in the manufacture of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and standard products for the automotive, medical, industrial and mil/aero markets.