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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (23954)	9/8/1998 9:17:00 PM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

All, From Electronic News Online Edited by Bernard Levine Last updated September 8, 1998 FUJITSU TO SHUTTER DURHAM, U.K., FAB; DRAM RESTRUCTURING CITED -- Fujitsu Microelectronics Ltd. (FML) pulled the plug "as of today," Friday, Sept. 4, on its Durham semiconductor plant in Newton Aycliffe, England "reflecting the tumultuous adverse condition in the worldwide semiconductor memory industry." The Japanese computer and memory giant will also restructure its commodity DRAM production in Japan and at other locations. FML could not be reached for further details on these restructurings. Approximately 570 employees at Newton Aycliffe are affected by the plant closure. Fujitsu scheduled the closure to take place in December with the process of giving notice of redundancy delivered last Friday. "The decision to close the Durham plant is a painful one, and we do so soberly and with sincere concern for those who will be affected," said Takamitsu Tsuchimoto, executive VP and head of Fujitsu's electronic devices group, of which FML is a part. Fujitsu is working with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Northern Development Company, a branch of Invest in Britain, to identify potential buyers by the end of February 1999. The plant will be maintained on a care and maintenance basis until February 28, 1999, while a suitable buyer or partner is sought. Fujitsu may find it hard to recoup anything close to the near $700 million it has invested in the Durham plant since 1991. The total capital and labor development investment amounted to more than 350 million pounds. Fujitsu said it will concentrate additional resources on the development of logic devices in the U.K. It will maintain and expand the R&D facilities in Manchester and Maidenhead, Berkshire that were established before the opening of the Durham plant.