Canon cutting 700 jobs in Japan

Despite news that we might have hit bottom, not everyone has recovered yet. Canon Inc. is cutting 700 jobs in Japan, specifically within chip equipment operations. While the company says it will move some workers to other jobs within the company, that's still a huge shift. Canon reps say that the optical products division, which includes microchip and LCD steppers, probably won't turn a profit until at least 2012. This comes after news yesterday that Canon will combine the sales and production departments of its semiconductor steppers in order to increase responsiveness to customer demands amid the financial downturn.