• Posted by: Technology Staff Editor
• On: 05/21/2008 09:35:00
• In: Information Technology

» Add a Comment  Send to Friend

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Seeking to cut costs, On Semiconductor plans to close its two wafer manufacturing facilities located in Piestany, Slovakia--a move that impacts 400 jobs.

On Semiconductor (Phoenix, Ariz). plans to transfer the production lines to other facilities. The factories to be closed produce devices for use in power system, automotive, consumer, portable and other applications.

The fab closures are expected to occur over the next 12--to-18 months. The targeted close date is Q4 2009.

The closing of the two fabs in Piestany will ultimately result in the elimination of approximately 400 manufacturing-related jobs beginning in May 2009.

The company's non-manufacturing backend business operations--which employ approximately 200 people--will remain in Piestany. These backend operations include the company's customer service centers for the Americas and Europe.

On Semiconductor's university-based Design Center located in Bratislava, Slovakia, will remain operating.

Wafer production at the Piestany fabs accounts for less than 2 percent of the total number of units manufactured by On Semiconductor and the newly acquired AMI Semiconductor.

On Semiconductor appears to have enough fab capacity. It recently acquired AMI Semiconductor, which has some fabs. In 2006, LSI Corp. sold its 8-inch fab in Oregon to On Semiconductor.