As nuclear loss grows, Toshiba needs chip investors, soon

Operating profit is forecast at 130 billion yen ($1.13 billion) for the year to end-March

With mounting writedowns from its nuclear business, Japan's Toshiba is looking to sell part of its core semiconductors business, a world number 2 in the flash memory chips used in smartphones.

But its rush to plug a hole in its US nuclear business that Japanese media now estimate at as much as $6 billion may complicate any asset sale.

Toshiba, which warned last month of multi-billion dollar charges for US nuclear project cost overruns, wants to boost its capital base by the end of the financial year in March.

Failure to offset the nuclear hit could wipe out already thin shareholder equity and