NEC To Cut More Than 20,000 Jobs; Hitachi May Cut 7,000

The job losses  in the technology sector are spreading to Japan. Japan’s NEC Corp. (NIPNF.PK) today said it will cut more than 20,000 jobs, about half them full positions, Bloomberg reports . NEC President Kaoru Yano made the announcement at a briefing in Tokyo. NEC, Japan’s largest computer maker, said most of the cuts will come from its chip, electronic component and LCD display divisions. About 60% of the cuts will be outside Japan. NEC said it expects to post a loss for the March 2009 fiscal year of about 290 million yen, or about $3.2 billion, down from its previous projection of a profit of 15 billion yen. The company expects sales to drop 9% to 4.2 trillion yen. Meanwhile, Hitachi (HIT) said it expects to post a loss for the March 2009 year of $7.8 billion, and reported that it may cut as many as 7,000 jobs. The company had previously been expecting a profit of 15 billion yen for the year. The com,pany blamed slumping demand, loses from affiliates, taxes, ... (link)