The news follows the layoffs of about 200 Toshiba workers in the U.S., following a hard quarter for the company in computer sales in that country, due to stiff competition and a slowdown in company spending on new computers.
This part of Asia will be spared layoffs as most of the cost-cutting measures involve moving production out of the U.S. and Japan and into China, sources told CNETAsia.
Overall, about 500 workers globally will be laid off as a result of the new measures, according to a statement on the firm's Web site.
In the last set of results made public, IDC put Toshiba as the leading brand in Asia-Pacific for notebooks last year, with a market share of 14 percent.
But in the U.S., Toshiba's unit shipments of notebook PCs declined by 22 percent sequentially, while overall unit sales increased by 8 percent during the quarter, according to market researcher IDC.
Giving a hint at where the job cuts might be contained, the Toshiba statement said "the scale of configuration-to-order of PCs at facilities in the U.S. and Germany will be reviewed, and gradually shifted to the Philippines and China."
In a statement, Wu Tengguo, general manager of the computer systems division told CNETAsia that in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, "our main focus and also one of the most important parts of our global re-organisation plan is to increase our emphasis on China, which is the fastest growing market."
However, he did not comment on whether there would be cuts in this region.
Toshiba plans to increase the number of R&D engineers in China, from 100 now to 150 by December, as will as increase notebook production in factories in the Philippines and Hangzhou, China, he said.
He added that Toshiba sees growth in digital audio-visual products and notebooks, and would continue to invest in research especially in the areas of wireless mobile PCs, PDAs and tablet PCs.
"Our customers can expect not only price competitive products but also more attractive designs and feature sets targeted at these markets," he said.
