Hitachi, Japan's biggest electronics producer, previously expected to earn 5 billion yen ($41.7 million) in the April-to- September period.

Many American companies, ranging from auto makers to electronics producers, are considering plants in Mexico if the agreement is completed.

Still, as more and more households buy personal computers, and the digital technology of computing invades consumer devices, the electronics producers see both an opportunity and a threat.

But the electronics producers, with their high debt loads and low stock prices, are in a bind.

The electronics producer said profits from continuing operations rose in both the fourth quarter and the year, with gains in all business segments.

Many Japanese companies, from electronics producers to automobile makers, have replaced American and European concerns that have withdrawn from South Africa or cut back operations there.

He was an American computer engineer, who co-founded in 1976 Apple Inc., an electronics producer, which at many times has been the largest company in the world.

Weak consumer spending, especially in Europe, and increasing competition from low-cost electronics producers in Asia have hurt Philips in recent years.

The company was founded in 1918, and has grown to become one of the largest Japanese electronics producers alongside Sony, Toshiba, Sharp Corporation, and Canon.

Seleco hit problems when Turkish electronics producers caused prices to fall rapidly and by April 1997 Seleco-Formenti was declared bankrupt.