Not A Good Sign>
e concern may buy Siemens fab in
Scotland
By Peter Clarke
EE Times
(12/01/98, 11:35 a.m. EDT)
NORTH TYNESIDE, England — A Chinese telecommunications company
is apparently interested in taking a stake in Siemens' 18-month-old
semiconductor fabrication facility in Scotland, which Siemens said it would
close if it could not find a buyer.
Siemens and the U.K. government are reported to be close to announcing
that they have found a buyer for Siemens' wafer fab here. The plan is
believed to have been orchestrated by the U.K. government and, according
to reports, will give a Chinese telecommunications company a 51 percent
stake in the fab, with Siemens retaining a 49 percent share.
The Chinese company will use the wafer fab to make components for GSM
mobile telephone systems, as well as to gain experience in chip manufacture.
China is already the biggest market for GSM telephones, which are
projected to experience very strong growth.
The plan could be announced this week as the wafer fab stops manufacturing
DRAMs for Siemens. It is thought that about 500 of the original 1,100
employees have accepted layoff or early retirement terms.
In August of this year, Siemens said that the collapse of DRAM prices and
the huge losses in its semiconductor group would force it to stop making
16-Mbit DRAMs at its U.K. plant. The company said it would seek a buyer
for the fab or, failing that, would closethe facility.
The plant, in which Siemens had invested about $1 billion, is only 18 months
old and runs a 0.25-micron manufacturing process.
At the time of the closure announcement, the U.K. government, stung by the
potential loss of 1,100 jobs in the high-tech sector and in an area of high
unemployment, said that it would participate in a task force to try and find a
buyer for the fab.
More recently, Siemens said its semiconductor division would be separated
from the parent company and sold as an independent, publicly traded
company. |
