TOKYO: Shares in Japan’s Renesas Electronics surged in Tokyo following a report it is in talks with Apple to sell the US giant its stake in a unit that designs microchips for liquid crystal displays.

The chipmaker jumped as much as 19 percent in early trade before settling back to 831 yen ($8.00) by the close, up 5.99 percent. The Nikkei business daily said Apple was eyeing Renesas SP Drivers, which makes about a third of the world’s chips that control small and midsize liquid crystal displays, as it looks to boost resolution and battery life in its popular gadgets.

Apple wants to buy Renesas’ entire 55 percent controlling stake in the company — a joint venture with Japan’s Sharp and Taiwan’s Powerchip — for about 50 billion yen ($480 million), it said.