August 20, 2001 — MACROOM, Ireland — Citing weak economic conditions and an unprecedented downturn in the electronics market, General Semiconductor Inc. announced that it is closing its manufacturing plant in Macroom, Ireland by the end of the year.

In addition to closing the plant in Ireland, where transient voltage suppression diodes and rectifiers are produced, the company is also making other cuts in operations worldwide and outsourcing more of its production to subcontractors.

The Macroom plant will be closing will eliminate 670 jobs or about 13% of General Semiconductor’s total workforce. The Long Island-based company said it expects to realize annualized cost savings of $25 million from closing the plant, and it will take pre-tax charges of up to $60 million in the third quarter to cover severance and other costs connected to the shutdown.

The majority of the products produced at the Irish facility will be transferred to plants in Taiwan and China, according to the company, which earlier this month agreed to be acquired Vishay Intertechnology Inc. for nearly $539 million in stock and assumption of debt.

General Semiconductor plan to outsource a number of product lines to subcontractors and implement additional job cuts worldwide, totaling 3 percent of its total workforce. Since the start of this year, General Semiconductor has announced layoffs for 23 percent of its workforce, which totaled 5,700 at the end of 2000.

The closing of the Irish plant and additional layoffs worldwide “were already under consideration prior to our announced merger agreement with Vishay Intertechnology,” says Ronald A. Ostertag, chairman and CEO of General Semiconductor. However, these new actions will “hasten our eventual integration with Vishay and better position the combined company for future growth,” he said.