January 27, 2012 — While announcing its Q4 2011 results, Texas Instruments (TI, NASDAQ:TXN) said it would close two older semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Hiji, Japan and Houston, TX over the course of the next 18 months. Production from these sites will be moved to other more advanced TI facilities.
Combined, the Hiji and Houston semiconductor manufacturing factories supported about 4% of TI’s revenue in 2011, and each employs about 500 people.
The total charge for these closures is estimated at about $215 million, of which $112 million was incurred in the fourth quarter and the remainder will occur over the next seven quarters. Annual savings will be about $100 million once the transition is complete. "These sites have made strong, high-quality contributions over the 30-plus years each has operated," said Templeton. "They demonstrate the tremendous cash flow potential associated with analog products, where factory lives are literally measured in decades. However, we’re now at the point where each of these sites requires significant upgrades, and it makes financial sense to shift production to larger, more advanced facilities."
Learn more at http://www.ti.com/.