Intel to Close Facilities, Lay Off Thousands Worldwide

IDG News Service — Intel will close four facilities and cut up to 6,000 jobs in a restructuring of its manufacturing operations announced on Wednesday.

Intel plans to close two assembly and test facilities -- one in Penang, Malaysia, and another in Cavite, the Philippines. It will also stop production at two wafer-production plants -- Fab 20, an older 200mm wafer fabrication plant in Hillsboro, Oregon, and D2, a facility in Santa Clara, California.

The changes will affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide, Intel said. Not all those employees will lose their jobs, however, as Intel plans to offer some of them positions at other facilities, the company said.

Intel will gradually close the facilities between now and the end of 2009, it said. The closures are designed to "align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions," the company said.

Like many technology companies, Intel has been hit hard by the U.S. recession, which also has affected the global economy. For its fourth quarter ended Dec. 27, 2008, Intel saw its profit plunge 90 percent from a year earlier, falling short of Wall Street estimates.