National Semiconductor has said it will rid itself of 1100 workers in a bid to cut costs after it emerged the chip company's Q4 2001 sales will miss the target by up to 18 per cent.

The job cuts amount to ten per cent of Nat Semi's worldwide workforce. Some 800 staffers will go, through redundancies and retirements, along with around 128 contractors. The jobs will be eliminated this quarter. Since it ends on 27 May, affected workers will be receiving their pink slips any day now.

The costs of reducing its headcount, along with other expenses arising from the cost-cutting programme, is expected to be $25-30 million, but the result will be a $70-80 million saving over the coming fiscal year.

Nat Semi now expects to report sales of $390-400 million for the current year's final quarter, rather less than the $427 million Wall Street had been expecting. The cost of the redundancies plus $10-12 million worth of stock writedowns should knock the company into the red, break-even at best. ®