Saturday, January 31, 2009

Texas Instruments to layoff 3,400 employees


Slackened demand in the chip industry and intense competition has hit Texas Instruments Inc., the Dallas-based chip giant! The company, likely to report a fall in its fourth-quarter sales to the tune of 33 percent, has announced that it plans to layoff 3,400 employees.

The planned number of job-cuts comprises 12 percent of the chip maker's total work force, which will be slashed by September end. While 1,600 employees will leave by the way of voluntary retirements and departures, the remaining will be specific job-cuts.

With the fourth quarter revenue of the company plunging to $2.49 billion from the year-earlier $3.56 billion, the announced layoffs, along with the 650 job-cuts announced in October, will together yield almost $700 million yearly savings for the company..

Ron Slaymaker, vice president of investor relations, said in an interview that the latest round of job cuts will extend over TI's global operations, and, by and large, will start becoming effectual from March end.

The total number of TI employees stood at almost 29,500 at the end of last year, of which 11,700 employees were in Texas. The company had 3,100 workers in Europe, and 2,300 in Japan.

Commenting on the company's move during a conference with the analysts, Slaymaker said: "It is a broad economic slowdown in which consumer consumption has dramatically weakened and likely will weaken further. We are planning for a weaker economic environment that could be around for a while."

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