Motorola Inc, the world's second-biggest maker of mobile phones, said it plans to close its Taiwan plant by the end of the year and contract other companies to undertake the production, without providing details.
The 700 employees at the Sindian, northern Taiwan, facility which makes set-top boxes for televisions, will be offered a "severance package better than legal requirements," said Victor Chang (張丕成), spokesman for Motorola Taiwan. Set-top boxes enable TV sets to receive and decode digital television signals.
"The change is aimed at making production more flexible," Chang said in a telephone interview. He declined to name any possible suppliers or disclose where they may be based.
International electronics vendors including Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola and Sony Corp are increasing outsourcing to lower costs, boosting sales of Taiwanese companies such as Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest notebook computer maker, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
Hon Hai Precision, Taiwan's biggest electronics company, may win sourcing orders from Motorola because of the plant closure, Taipei-based DigiTimes reported today.
After the job cuts Motorola will have about 1,000 staff in Taiwan, including 300 at its Taipei office and 700 in Sindian, working in research and development and at a new product introduction center for home entertainment, Chang said.
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