WACKER Chemie: 200-mm Wafer Production to Be Shifted to Asia

19-Nov-2003

The agreement is linked to the restructuring of WACKER SILTRONIC's 200 mm wafer operations. Due to extreme overcapacity and severe price competition in this segment, not to mention the highly adverse exchange-rate effects caused by a strong euro against a weak U.S. dollar, the company announced its intention back in early October to cut back production of 200-mm wafers and focus on a few highly specialized, low-cost and high-productivity sites. To meet this goal, Wacker Siltronic AG's Supervisory Board decided Monday to close the Wasserburg site with effect from July 1, 2004 and transfer the related production to the existing 200-mm facilities in Singapore, Hikari (Japan) and Portland (Oregon, USA).

Closure of the Wasserburg site will mean the loss of approx. 350 jobs. WACKER SILTRONIC's other business fields have seen order books improving in recent weeks. As a result, the Burghausen site is likely to cut just 260 jobs rather than the originally planned 450 over the next two years. WACKER SILTRONIC intends to achieve the cuts mainly through normal staff fluctuation.

Additional measures to reduce the 200-mm workforce include offers of alternative employment at other units and sites. The company already has over 200 jobs to offer, mainly at its Freiberg site in Saxony.

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