Intel Corp. plans to cut up to 6,000 manufacturing jobs as the company struggles with souring personal computer demand that has left its factories operating at less than their full capacity.
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Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, said Wednesday that it plans to close three "assembly test" facilities in Malaysia and the Philippines and will halt production at plants in Hillsboro, Ore., and Santa Clara, Calif., where older-style wafers were being produced.
The "assembly test" plants are where chipmakers send their finished wafers to be sliced into separate chips, put into individual packages, and tested to make sure they work.
Intel said 5,000 to 6,000 jobs would be affected but added that some employees would be offered positions elsewhere in the company. The changes are expected to be finished by end of this year. Intel currently employs about 84,000 workers.
The semiconductor giant halted production at its 1,000-employee Colorado Springs plant in December 2007. Intel has trying to sell the 1.4 million-square-foot complex on Garden of the Gods Road for more than two years.
Last week, Intel posted a whopping 90 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit, hurt by declining demand for its microprocessors - the brains of PCs - amid the economic downturn.
The results, however, matched Wall Street's expectations as the company had twice lowered its sales forecast.
Also Wednesday:
• Industrial parts and systems maker Eaton Corp. said Wednesday it is cutting an additional 5,200 jobs because of a drop in demand for its products amid the global economic downturn. The move is intended to help the Cleveland-based company reduce costs by $125 million in 2009 and follows 3,400 job cuts last year. All told, Eaton has cut back its employment level globally by about 10 percent, down from a high of about 80,000.
• Williams-Sonoma Inc. said it is cutting 1,400 positions and closing two support centers to cope with slowing sales in the tough economy. The high-end kitchen and home company plans to cut 18 percent of its full-time staff, and close a Pennsylvania call center and a distribution facility in Tennessee. The company said that it will make the cuts by the end of the month, saving it an estimated $75 million.
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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Source：gazette.com
Copyright © 2009 Freedom Communications
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