Losses at NEC Corp. ballooned in the fiscal first half compared with the previous year as sales of mobile phones and personal computers slumped and the electronics maker booked costs to restructure its chip operations.

NEC posted a group net loss of 7.4 billion yen during the six months that ended Sept. 30 -- worse than the 1.5 billion yen loss racked up a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said Tuesday.

Fiscal half sales fell 2.5 percent to 2.2 trillion yen from 2.3 trillion yen a year ago.

For the fiscal year though March, NEC expects a group net profit of 18 billion yen on 4.7 trillion yen in sales.