01/10 01:21
Motorola to Close Three Chip Plants in Japan, Texas (Update3)
By Alan Patterson
quote.bloomberg.com
Hong Kong, Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc. said it will close chip plants in Texas and Japan, resulting in 4,000 job cuts in its chip-making business, 13 percent of the total, as it targets a return to profit this year.
Chip-packaging plants in Sendai, Japan and in Austin, Texas, will be shut as well as a silicon-wafer facility in Sendai, spokeswoman Gloria Shiu said. The job cuts, earlier reported on the Web site of U.S. trade journal EETimes, include shedding of administrative staff worldwide, she said.
``This is part of our manufacturing consolidation plan to improve efficiency,'' Shiu said in an interview.
The firings are part of a 9,400 job-cut plan announced in December by Motorola Chief Executive Officer Christopher Galvin, who has pledged the second-biggest mobile-phone maker will earn 15 cents a share this year after losses in 2001. Most of the world's chip-packaging plants are located in Malaysia, the Philippines and other lower-cost locations.
Production from the Sendai plants, run by Tohoku Semiconductor Co., will be moved to locations in Chandler, Arizona; Eastkilbride, Scotland and another facility in Sendai.
Motorola employs about 30,000 workers worldwide in its chip- making business. The company doesn't plan to farm out more production to other companies as a result of the plant closings.
``Most of the production will be consolidated within our own operations,'' Shiu said. |
