National Semiconductor to lay off 1,725
Two plants down, three to go
National Semiconductor announced Wednesday that it would immediately lay off 850 employees and follow those layoffs with an additional 875 over the next "several quarters" as the company closes two plants: one in Suzhou, China and a second in Arlington, Texas.
The layoffs, which will total 26 per cent of the analog and mixed-signal semiconductor manufacturer's workforce, were announced in the company's financial report for its third quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended March 1, 2009.
NatSemi's Q3 sales were $292m (£270m), which was down 31 per cent from the $422m (£391m) reported in the previous quarter and down 36 per cent from the $453m (£419m) in sales during the same quarter last year.
Net income sunk $21.1m (£19.5m) in the quarter, down from $72.9m (£67.5m) during the same period in 2008 - and that was after a one-time boost of $11m (£10.2m) in "discrete income tax benefits" during the just-ended quarter.
The company's execs don't predict a turnaround anytime soon, projecting that sales will decline another 5 to 10 per cent during the current quarter.
After the plant closings in China and the US, NatSemi will be down to three manufacturing facilities: wafer-fab plants in South Portland, Maine and Greenock, Scotland and an assembly and test facility in Melaka, Malaysia.
NatSemi's chairman and CEO Brian Halla offered the same explanation for the layoffs that has been emanating from corner offices around the globe: "The worldwide recession has impacted National’s business as demand has fallen considerably." ®
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COMMENTS
NS databooks...
I have two of those books, from 1978 and 1980. I didn't realize they were so rare. They're still useful today, especially when the computer is not handy.
How the mighty have fallen
The big blue NS databooks were really coveted in the 80's. Far more so than the TI data books because they were harder to get hold of. TI would throw them at you by by the box, where as NatSemi were far more frugal.
I wonder if getting data out to Engineers was the reason for NS' demise and TI's success?
close one
Wow, that plant (Arlingon) is 4 blocks from my house. I guess I should have gotten my regulators from them instead of Linear Tech. Its just that Linear has a nicer website.
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