TOKYO, Feb. 10, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- Spansion Japan Ltd., a Japanese unit of U.S. flash memory maker Spansion Inc. (NASDAQ:SPSN) , on Tuesday filed for bankruptcy protection with 74.1 billion yen in debt, Teikoku Databank said.

With the biggest debt among failed manufacturers in Japan this year, the firm filed an application with the Tokyo District Court for protection from creditors under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, the private research firm said.

Spansion Japan, which has produced flash memory semiconductors for cellular phones and other digital consumer electronics, has seen its performance deteriorate under the pressure of the global recession and its investment in expansion of a plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Teikoku said.

The company was founded as a joint venture between Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd. and U.S. semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) in 1993 and became a subsidiary of Spansion in 2003. Spansion is also a Fujitsu-AMD joint venture.