To buffer those risks, Toshiba is moving quickly into application-specific and logic chips, which are the brains for such items as video games and portable phones. One big hope is to develop an entire computer system on a single chip to power new handheld computers and other multimedia products. Other companies are going after the same prize, of course. Still, rivals give Toshiba a chance of succeeding. Toshiba may form joint-venture companies for major businesses that could take them off the books yet avoid mass layoffs.
Nuclear power is a prime candidate, as well as white goods such as refrigerators.
Progress hasn't been satisfactory,'' he says. Toshiba may never become the kind of nimble player he envisions. But then again, Nishimuro has beaten the odds before in his own life. And he certainly is making his mark on a company that badly needs change. There's no charge to see this list of stories.