Japanese groups collapse. - According to the FIEEC (Federation of Electronic, Electric and Communication Industries), the big Japanese consumer electronic producers are in trouble. The Sony, Panasonic and Sharp groups, former global leaders, have announced that 2011-2012 (which comes to a close on 31 March) will come to an end with record losses. An €8 billion deficit for Panasonic, €2.9 billion deficit for Sharp and losses of €2.2 billion for Sony. The explanation can be found in the many natural disasters that affected Japan (the earthquake and tsunami), which destroyed some of their industrial installations, as well as developments affecting the yen, compared to the other main currencies, which makes their products less competitive. All of this occurs in a difficult economic context. The Japanese groups have also found themselves hemmed into the consumer electronics market, half of which is made up of televisions, a less profitable market that is now dominated by the Chinese and Koreans. They also failed to anticipate the success of the new technological platforms (smartphones, iPads, iPods). Last year, the sales of smartphones were greater (487 million) than that for PCs (416 million) throughout the world, according to Canalys consultants. The sale of PCs includes the figures for sales of tablets, which increased by 274% over the previous 12 months. Three Japanese groups (Renesas Electronics, Fujitsu and Panasonic) have decided to respond and have announced the merger of their design and manufacturing industries for electronic chips, within a new structure supported by public capital. Current market leaders in semiconductors are Intel ($49.7 billion in turnover in 2011), Samsung Electronics ($29.2 billion), Texas Instruments ($14.1 billion), Toshiba ($13.4 billion) and Renesas Electronics ($11.1 billion). (IL/transl.fl)