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To: Don Green who wrote (78873)	10/2/2001 1:13:30 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Fujitsu To Halt Operations At 3 Chip-Making Plants For 5 Days Wednesday, October 3, 2001 TOKYO (Nikkei)--Fujitsu Ltd. (6702) will halt operations at three major factories for five days this month in order to further reduce output amid weak demand, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Tuesday. There are no signs of recovery in the chip market as demand for computers and digital appliances continues to weaken, especially after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Fujitsu will stop operations at its chip-making plants in Iwate, Fukushima and Mie prefectures. They are the company's only factories manufacturing the latest system chips and logic semiconductors, which means Fujitsu will halt the production of all semiconductors other than memory chips. The company plans to pay 90% of base wages to 5,000 laid-off workers at the plants. The computer maker had already stopped production for nine days in mid-August in order to lower output, and reduced its plants' operating rate to about 60-70% in September and afterward. The five-day suspension this month is seen lowering the operating rate to below 50%. Rival firm NEC Corp. (6701) had taken similar steps, stopping some production lines at a chip-making factory in Kumamoto Prefecture starting Sept. 28. About 1,000 workers, or roughly 30% of all employees in the factory, are taking a break until Wednesday. The firm will also halt production at assembly plants in Oita, Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures between Tuesday and Friday. About 1,700 workers will be temporarily out of work. The semiconductor industry had been hoping the market would bottom out before the Christmas and year-end shopping season, but there have been no improvements in demand this fall. Electric appliance makers, meanwhile, are most likely to scale back orders for semiconductors due to weak consumer spending following the Sept. 11 attacks. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Wednesday morning edition)