FWIW,
Chip Companies Shut, Halt 26 U.S. Plants in '98, USA Today Says
Bloomberg News
December 17, 1998, 7:00 a.m. PT
Palo Alto, California, Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-
Packard Co., Intel Corp., Micron Technology Inc., Motorola Inc.
and other semiconductor makers closed or delayed construction on
26 U.S. plants in the past year amid reduced Asian demand, USA
Today said, citing Cahners In-Stat Group. Sometimes companies got
state grants for promised projects that didn't pan out, as states
like Virginia, Oregon and New Mexico have given companies tax
breaks and other incentives for new construction that was
postponed, the paper said. As a result, some states have started
tying incentives to performance, and Intel, for instance, will
owe Washington state up to $2 million next year when it closes a
plant employing 650, the paper said.
Reduced demand earlier this year caused memory chip prices
to fall to about $2 from $60 in 1995, while billings for
semiconductors fell about 14 percent in August from August 1997,
according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. |
