Pigboy, Re: halting its Virginia Plant, which is supposed to be building large system chips such as the PowerPC
Although Motorola's fab theology is to build mfg. facilities which can run various processes (logic/memory), this facility in VA was slated to be a memory fab, according to the AP.
Also see my response to Stac: #65011, greg s, Sep 17 1998 3:46PM
azcentral.com
Motorola again to shelve plans for Va. chip plant
By Cliff Edwards
Associated Press
Sept. 17, 1998
CHICAGO - Motorola Inc. on Wednesday became the fourth major maker to stop U.S. production of computer memory chips, saying it will again shelve plans for a $3 billion plant in Virginia amid the "worst global downturn in semiconductor history."
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company, the No. 3 maker worldwide of computer chips, blamed falling demand and an industry glut for its decision to halt construction on the West Creek, Va., plant, for the second time since 1995. Motorola warned that it plans to suspend other semiconductor construction plans in coming weeks.
An expanded project at the West Creek site was revived in December and groundbreaking on the plant was to have been held next year. The plant was to have made high-performance chips for pagers and handheld computers and employ as many as 5,000 people.
Motorola's decision follows a strategic retreat recently by three of Japan's largest electronics manufacturers. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturer, said it will close its chipmaking operations in the United States by year's end. The move will affect about 340 employees at Matsushita Semiconductor Corp.'s factory in Puyallup, Wash.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is closing its factory in Durham, N.C., which made 16 and 64-megabit memory chips, and is laying off all 230 workers. Hitachi Ltd. said it will cut 500 jobs by shutting its plant in Irving, Texas, where it builds several types of memory chips.
The latest chip plant closings - the most since 1990-91 and unusual during a time when the U.S. economy is prospering - "is a capitulation by those companies that tried to tough it out," said Andrew Peck, an industry analyst at Cowen & Co. in Boston.
Memory chip prices have fallen more than 70 percent over the past year. And chip sales are forecast to fall 2 percent in 1998 to $134.7 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
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