There was confusion yesterday over how far Toshiba Corp and Fujitsu Ltd plan to push the chip alliance the two Japanese electronics giants announced in June.

Far Eastern reports yesterday suggested that contrary to original expectations the two companies will not be exploring an eventual merger of their chip operations. The reports said the companies had failed to agree on a full merger because of Fujitsu's desire to retain control over its chip operations.

A spokeswoman for Fujitsu said yesterday that the company had made no further official comment since the original announcement in June. Back then, she said, the companies had declared their intent to "explore cooperation" and "that stance has not changed."

The companies were looking at ways to cooperate on advanced system on a chip development, and possibly on fab utilization, she said, but had never really expressed any interest in merging their operations.

The original joint statement issued by the two companies in June said that, "As collaboration progresses, the two companies may seek ways to effectively expand the scope of their partnership, including the possibility of integrating their operations."

© ComputerWire