June 28, 2002 — Motorola Inc. announced Thursday that it would cut 7,000 additional jobs from its worldwide operation as part of a restructuring plan. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based corporation will trim 3,000 positions from its wireless network business, said Scott Wyman, director of financial communications. The remaining cuts will be done throughout the corporation, with the largest anticipated in North American, European and Asian offices.
Motorola specializes in semiconductors and wireless telephones but also provides integrated electronic systems for various industries. Its MEMS and microsystems appear in, or are being designed for, tire pressure sensors and stabilizing platforms for automobiles, biochip devices for medical diagnostics and pharmaceutical research and radio frequency components for wireless phones. Motorola Labs in Tempe, Ariz., also is pursuing various nanotechnology projects ranging from memory chips to biological sensors.
Layoffs will begin next month, Wyman said, and continue for 12 months. Motorola decided in 2000 to reduce its cost structure by more than 20 percent by trimming its roughly 150,000 workforce and closing and consolidating facilities. It now has less than 100,000 employees.