Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s largest notebook PC maker, has offered an early severance package to workers at its Taoyuan production facility.
The company yesterday confirmed a media report that it was asking nearly 2,000 production-line workers at its facility in an industrial park in Taoyuan County to accept a severance package, according to a company official who asked not to be named.
One of its clients’ projects is nearing its end, and the company has to adjust its manpower as the business shrinks, she said.
Most of Quanta’s production is carried out in China, but in this case, the client specifically asked for its product to be manufactured in Taiwan and shouldered the extra labor costs, Quanta said.
Therefore, its Taoyuan facility has to downsize its workforce, given its smaller production scale relative to China and the lack of other projects to work on, the company said.
Local Chinese-language media yesterday said the client was Research In Motion Ltd, the maker of the BlackBerry, whose PlayBook tablet failed to impress users, forcing it to cut its orders.
Local cable TV network UBN quoted an unnamed worker as saying that Quanta would offer about NT$120,000 to each worker who had been with the company for more than one year and was willing to apply for early severance.
The worker said he received a letter from the company yesterday morning asking if he would like to accept the early severance package, UBN reported.
Quanta spokesman Elton Yang (楊俊烈) did not confirm the amount of severance pay or the identity of the client.
Yang told the Internet-based Next TV yesterday that the company would pay “several times” the monthly salary to workers who resign.
“Adjustments to factory capacity and changes in a client’s project have led to a redundancy of employees in the Taoyuan facility,” Next TV quoted him as saying.
However, Quanta said the voluntary scheme has no relationship to its core notebook business.
The company said the notebook shipments were expected to pick up steam this month and rise from last month’s 5 million units. It retained its whole-year goal of growing 10 percent in notebook shipments to 57.3 million units.
Shares of Quanta were not affected by the news yesterday, edging up 0.53 percent to close at NT$57 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
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