Renesas has talked with Apple, others on chip unit sale: source

Reuters
A Renesas Electronics Corp's chip is pictured at the company's office in Tokyo March 21, 2013. REUTERS/Yuya Shino

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Renesas Electronics Corp has talked with several companies, including Apple Inc, on a possible sale of its display chip design unit, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. The source declined to comment further on the status of the talks. Renesas has been restructuring to focus on its business supplying semiconductors to the automotive sector and said on Wednesday it was considering a sale of Renesas SP Drivers, but declined to comment further. The Nikkei business daily said Apple was in talks to buy the unit and could pay 50 billion yen ($483 million), with a transaction due to be completed by summer. Apple did not respond to an email request for comment. (Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Dominic Lau)