STMicro reports quarterly loss, lays off 4,500
The semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics has reported a $366m net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, and has said it will lay off as many as 4,500 jobs in a cost-cutting drive.
The results for the European firm were released on Tuesday. The fourth quarter of the previous year saw a net income of $20m (£14m). It is not yet known how many of the layoffs will take place in the UK — STMicro employs just over 430 employees here, with a sales office in Marlow and research and development sites in Bristol, Edinburgh, Fleet and Daventry.
"Fourth-quarter net revenues came in at the mid-point of our updated outlook and reflected the accelerated level of order push-outs and cancellations and decrease in demand as the quarter progressed," said STMicro president and chief executive, Carlo Bozotti, in the statement that accompanied Tuesday's results. "All product areas were negatively affected, in particular automotive, wireless and computer peripherals."
In the statement, Bozotti said STMicro hoped to reduce its costs by over $700m during 2009, partly through the job cuts. "While it is extremely difficult to predict how the industry will evolve in 2009, we believe it could be a year of fundamental change and opportunity," he added.