There have been many fab closures in the UK over the years, NEC, Siemens, Atmel, DEC, to name but a few, but which was the very first fab closure?
That could be the closure of Transitron’s fab at Maidenhead which, according to an announcement reported in the November 29th 1972 version of Electronics Weekly, was to be closed with all Transitron’s diffusion operations switched to Transitron’s plants in Mexico and the US.
According to Transitron’s European vice president Francis P Buiting, the concentration of the company’s UK sales on the low volume, high reliability end of the market, meant that the UK market did not warrant a diffusion capability.
As well as diffusion, the Maidenhead plant performed assembly and test.
Leave a comment