Japan has not been a friendly environment for activist hedge funds, but the latter certainly are persistent.

The latest activist to take on a Japanese company is Perry Capital. The New York-based firm has been pushing NEC Corp. for more than a year to improve performance at its chip-making unit, NEC Electronics Corp., in which it holds a 6% stake. Now Perry has bought less than 5% of NEC itself, the Nikkei newspaper reports, to ramp up the pressure.

Investors must publicly declare stakes over 5%.

NEC Electronics, which NEC owns 70% of, has forecast a third-straight annual loss.

NEC brushed aside Perry’s offer of 15.4 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) for a 25% stake in NEC Electronics this summer, as Perry continued to push the company to cut investments, sell underperforming units and invest in its profitable microcontroller unit.

Perry reportedly may increase its stake in NEC.