TI to shut Portuguese fab

Portugal is the latest country to suffer from the worldwide slump in DRAM after Texas Instruments said it would shut a fab plant there. The fab, jointly developed with Samsung Electronics, will close in March next year with over 700 jobs lost and TI will move production to Malaysia, a report in the Financial Times said. The factory only opened in 1993 and the Portuguese government is understood to be seeking reimbursement for investment it and the European Union made in the fab. The move is blamed on devaluation of Asian currencies and much lower labour costs in the Far East. Earlier this year, Siemens shut a plant in the North East of England but has not yet repaid £50 million it owes to the UK government. ®