Thank you for realizing that ther DSP industry is a fantasy for TI. Already competitors (LU & MOT)are entering, and my guess is it will be just like the DRAM industry in no time at all. I think it is a shame that TIsells therir brand new Twinstar facility in Dallas, and it is already closed down. So there is no hope of a reversal.
Looks like MU won't even open TI's Twinstar anytime soon.
dallasnews.com
Stunned TI workers worry about prospects
Chipmaker begins process of shutting down factory
06/20/98
By Andy Dworkin / The Dallas Morning News
When Chris Whitesell returned from his Cancun vacation around midnight Thursday, something important was missing - his job.
An equipment engineer at the cutting-edge TwinStar Semiconductor Inc. chip plant in Richardson, Mr. Whitesell was among 600 workers laid off when Texas Instruments Inc. unexpectedly announced Thursday that it would close the factory immediately.
Dallas-based TI wants to sell the plant's assets and other memory operations to Micron Technology Inc. of Boise, Idaho, for a bargain-basement $800 million in stock and debt. TI is also restructuring worldwide to cut costs, so hundreds of other local workers face voluntary retirement or layoffs.
The sale left hundreds of TwinStar workers - ranging from new hires right up to the plant president - with two tasks on Friday: closing down one of the world's most advanced memory chip factories and searching for new jobs.
"Everyone's real concerned about finding another job," Mr. Whitesell said Friday. "The whole industry's sort of in a slump right now."
When construction of TwinStar began in early 1995, TI and its Japanese partner, Hitachi Ltd., were excited about the $500 million plant and the chips it would produce.
Then a glut of memory chips drove prices and profits down. Hitachi pulled out of the project in February. TI tried to go it alone, and TwinStar workers labored to stay afloat.
"We knew something had to change" in the industry, Mr. Whitesell said. "We worked hard to keep our [production] up and our costs down."
Even TwinStar president James Watson thought the extra work would keep production lines humming, he said Friday. But it was not enough.
"I think the decision to close the factory was a shock to everybody," said Mr. Watson, who learned about it just a week earlier. Mr. Watson will lead a transition team in shutting down the plant over the next several weeks. But after that, he does not know what his next job will be.
He was not optimistic that Micron would reopen the plant soon. Most analysts think memory prices will rebound after 2000, and "it could be well into the next decade, I think, before [TwinStar] could be a candidate" for reopening, Mr. Watson said.
For now, TI will work with the Richardson Chamber of Commerce and local colleges to help laid-off workers find new employment, company spokeswoman Leslie Price said Friday.
"The [Richardson] Telecom Corridor has one of the most advanced job training and referral networks in the country, and we're going to be drawing on all those resources," she said.
TI is also giving the workers severance packages that include three to five months' pay and extended insurance coverage, Ms. Price said.
At the same time, however, TI will be working on its own restructuring, one that could lead to more local layoffs. The company has sold off a dozen operations over the past two years, including the memory chip plants Thursday, to focus on making digital signal processors - high-tech chips that convert audio and video into digital code. Now, officials say, the smaller TI needs to streamline.
In all, TI wants to cut 3,500 jobs worldwide. But only about 1,700 of those cuts, including the 600 in Richardson and more than 400 in Midland and Lubbock, were identified Thursday, Ms. Price said.
The company is offering early retirement packages to about 1,800 remaining workers over 50 years old, she said. But unless all the workers take the package, which Ms. Price said is unlikely, more people will have to be laid off to hit the target. And since about a third of the 36,000 remaining TI workers will be in North Texas, many of the job cuts are likely to be in this area.
Workers have until Aug. 3 to accept the packages, which include retirement pay and insurance, Ms. Price added.
Several analysts said Friday that the laid-off workers can take some solace in the strong state of the economy. Mr. Watson pointed out that the TwinStar employees are skilled technical workers, who are in great demand now.
John Jacobs, vice president of economic development for the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, said there are other companies in the area that could probably absorb the job seekers.
"The unemployment rate in the [Telecom] Corridor is probably less than 2 percent. Anybody who has skills seems to be able to find something," he said.
Mr. Whitesell echoed that optimism, buoyed by the three or four calls from recruiters he received on Friday. "I've got a pretty positive outlook for the future," he said. |
