National Semiconductor Corp, which set up operations in Singapore in 1968, will close its chip-assembly plant in the city-state, as it joins companies such as Maxtor Corp in moving to lower-cost countries.
The factory, located in the Toa Payoh district, will be shut by the end of next year and 950 jobs will be eliminated, Santa Clara, California-based National Semiconductor said yesterday in a statement. The company expects moving the plant's operations to China and Malaysia will save up to US$6 million a quarter.
National Semiconductor follows Maxtor, the world's second-largest maker of computer-disk drives, and Creative Technology Ltd in cutting jobs in Singapore and moving elsewhere in Asia.
The companies are shifting manufacturing closer to their customers and taking advantage of lower labor and land costs in countries like China and Malaysia.
"It's a reflection of the kind of trends we're seeing in terms of manufacturing bases moving," said Alan Richardson, who helps manage US$2.8 billion at Baring Asset Management in Hong Kong. "Temporarily there could be an impact but in the longer term, as the country diversifies away from low-end contract manufacturing in technology and other related industries, the impact will be neutralized."
The migration is pushing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (
The city-state is building casinos, convention space and a business district at a downtown waterfront site to draw new investment as it tries to temper three decades of reliance on electronics manufacturing.
Electronics factories account for 32 percent of Singapore's manufacturing output. Manufacturing makes up a quarter of the US$107 billion economy.
Singapore's government expects economic growth to slow to between 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent this year from 8.4 percent last year.
Maxtor in March said it would close its plant in Singapore and cut 5,500 jobs as it moves production to China. Hitachi Ltd in 2001 cut 550 jobs after the company closed its television and vacuum cleaner factory in Singapore and shifted operations to China, Indonesia and Thailand.
Closing the Singapore plant will cost National Semiconductor US$27 million to US$30 million this quarter, the company said.
The company is also stopping the production of digital chips, which it mostly manufactures in Singapore, spokesman Jeff Weir said. Analog chips that are used in devices such as Apple Inc's iPod are more profitable.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS