Japanese chip maker Toshiba yesterday forecast a doubling of its operating profits in the next three years on the back of increased sales of semiconductors and nuclear equipment.

The company said operating profits will rise to 500 billion yen (£2.5bn) in the 12 months to March 2011, from 238.1 billion yen last fiscal year.

Toshiba is the second-largest producer in the $15bn (£7.6bn) NAND flash memory market after Samsung, and expects earnings from semiconductors will rebound after falling 31 per cent last year because of oversupply.

And the company said it plans to spend more than 1.7 trillion yen (£8bn) with partner SanDisk to build two factories that will make the chips used in mobile phones and music players such as Apple's iPod.

Toshiba hopes to secure orders for 33 nuclear reactors in China and the US by 2015 to more than triple nuclear reactor sales after it bought nuclear company Westinghouse Electric in 2006.

The company last month said it is negotiating a deal with US-based NRG Energy Inc. to build two nuclear units in a bid to expand its market share of nuclear plant construction in the US.