November 1, 2001 – Taipei, Taiwan – The board of Winbond Electronics Corp. yesterday decided to revamp its business strategies and restructure to cope with the economic slowdown.

According to Financial Times Ltd., Winbond will also suspend the R&D of the manufacturing of DRAM chips with production process under 0.11-micron. According to the three-pronged new plans, Winbond will shut its five-inch wafer fabrication plant, reduce personnel and adjust production items in the hope of swing from the present net cash outflow to cash inflow

When the plant is closed at the end of the year, 200 staff members will be reassigned to other plants. Manufacturing equipment at the plant will be sold to interested investors

There will be a hiring freeze and senior executives will take a pay cuts, which will be gradually expanded to other employees if necessary. Other measures will include letting employees take leaves according to arranged schedules. These actions are expected to slash personnel costs by 15%

The three sets of measures will save Winbond an estimated NT$2 billion in FY02, enabling the company to maintain a favorable competition position against the backdrop of general slowdown for the semiconductor industry and steep drop in selling prices

Winbond incurred an operating loss of NT$6.543 billion or NT$1.48 per share in the first three quarters of this year.