Renesas Electronics (Tokyo: 6723), one of Japan's biggest chip-makers, could fire as many as 30 percent of those on its payroll, or 14,000 workers.

The move would follow the bankruptcy of Elpida Memories, a maker of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits that is likely to be acquired by Micron Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) of Boise, Idaho, the biggest U.S. maker of memory chips.

Nikkei reported the company plans to restructure operations and farm out operations to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM). It could also farm out other lines to Fujitsu (Tokyo: 6702) and Panasonic (Tokyo: 6752). The moves would be reflective of the continuing struggles in Japan's semiconductor industry.

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