Hitachi is expected to announce the closure of another DRAM fabrication plant today, this time in Dallas, Texas. Yesterday, Hitachi shut its Irvin chip plant with the loss of 500 jobs, and announced it would restructure its chip operations in the US, as reported here. That news will come close on the heels of Fujitsu's official announcement that it is to close its fab in the UK, and follows the announcement that LG Semicon and Hyundai are to form a merged chip unit. Yesterday, Hitachi turned in a record loss of 250 billion yen and went into the red for the first time since just after the Second World War. Its president, Tautomu Kanai, said in a statement that he planned to "weed out" all unprofitable activities. More trouble has also hit another major manufacturer, Motorola. Reports said that it was to rejig its semiconductor products unit, which will include job losses and an attempt to cut its admin and overheads by around the 30 per cent mark. ®