Japanese chip and PC giant Fujitsu may revise plans for a proposed £29.4 million sterling (€46.6 million) engineering centre in Northern Ireland as part of a review of its European telecommunications division.
Earlier this week, the group confirmed there would be fewer than 30 job losses at its telecoms division in the North, as part of a global restructuring programme in which 16,400 jobs will go.
More than two thirds of the losses will take place outside Japan and the group has forecast 900 redundancies in Europe.
Fujitsu suggests these are likely to take place at its IT division, ICL, but industry analysts believe jobs could be also be vulnerable at its telecommunication operations in the UK.
According to a spokesman for Fujitsu's US headquarters, the group has earmarked a 45 billion yen (€410 million) restructuring programme for its telecommunications group.
Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe, formed in 1991, is the European subsidiary based in Birmingham. It employs 1,200 people in developing the group's European communications business.
The subsidiary has three operations in Northern Ireland - a product repair and refurbishment facility at Antrim, a manufacturing facility at Springvale Business Park and a software development centre in Belfast.
Last spring, Fujitsu planned to expand this centre with a new £29.4 million investment for Northern Ireland. The centre, which has been promised £3.9 million in financial assistance packages from the Industrial Development Board in the North, was expected to create 400 additional jobs.
An IDB spokesman said Fujitsu had already begun to "draw down" on its package of financial support for the new centre.
Although Fujitsu has established the centre in Belfast - it is based in a £30 million Dunloe Ewart development in the heart of the city centre - there has been no major recruitment as yet to support its development plans.
According to the Fujitsu spokesman in the US, the group is currently "unable to confirm the schedule" for its new project in Belfast.
"Fujitsu, of course, remains committed to Belfast, but now we must review our operations very carefully," the spokesman added.
In a statement detailing its restructuring programme for its telecommunications division, Fujitsu says it wants to strengthen its "advanced products and solutions" business and concentrate its resources on developing "photonic, IP and 3G mobile products".
The group has outlined plans to transfer the development of some of its telecoms products such as its "Access" range to affiliated firms.
The group also plans to "shift manpower" to strengthen its sales teams by consolidating and reorganising related companies in Japan and overseas.
As part of the restructuring process, Fujitsu now wants to reorganise overseas companies to consolidate "low-growth" businesses. It has warned it will "reduce personnel" in the UK as part of this programme.
