Rumours in two earlier posts, here and here, that Trident Microsystems will lay off 70 employees from the
NXP got back to me this morning with the following statement:
'Following your question yesterday evening on the Southampton site I can report the following that (as you know) on October 5th 2009, NXP Semiconductors and Trident Microsystems announced their intention to combine their Digital TV and Set-Top Box businesses to create an industry leader in the Digital Home Market. As a result NXP and Trident are in the process of reviewing in detail the product portfolio's of both companies and determining what is the right combination to take forward in Trident' product offering, after the merger, to the market and therefore can not address specific plans, per site. All of course subject to the Closing Conditions being fulfilled.'
The NXP statement continues:
'We will be looking at streamlining our operations and making necessary improvements when appropriate, to maintain the level of operating efficiency required for leadership. As a consequence of this, we cannot avoid any redundancies. '
NXP concludes:
'As usual in this kind of transactions, we are having an ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders including the employees involved, works councils and unions. The discussions with these parties are very constructive, as usual. Items to discuss with works councils and trade unions will focus on future employment, labor conditions for the people who will transfer to Trident, the future outlook for both Trident and NXP and the expected consequences for employees.'
A further statement from Trident confirms that, on completion of the sale, the NXP employees at the
The Trident statement reads:
'Upon closing of the transaction, contemplated to occur on February 8, NXP's set-top box and DTV employees in Southampton will become employees of a new Trident UK subsidiary.'
If, and hopefully it doesn't happen, Trident makes 70 redundancies on Monday, those affected will have the shortest period of employment on record - taken on and laid off on the same day.
And that would raise the question: Why buy a company then lay off the employees?
To which a likely answer is: To get the IP.
Why are you suddenly interested in the future of NXP Southampton now? There have been layoffs of this sort of magnitude every year for the past 8 years or so there! This is only the last death throws of a site that has been S#@t up from overseas management for a long time now.
The Daily Echo report from before xmas was pretty accurate -
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/david-manners-semiconductor-blog/2010/02/nxps-southampton-site-update-2.html#comment-2120445
You had a lot of stuff about the Hamburg site in one of your blogs, so we assumed you could read between the lines and work out that the situation would be the same across most european sites....as stated by anon, the southampton site has been doomed for years, either because of ignorant management, or because our beans were too expensive. This is just the final chapter and the end of over 50 years of semiconductor development on the site. And that's without mentioning PolymerVision going bust and vacating the premises ;-)
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/district/southampton/4813054.Workers_face_jobs_axe/?action=complain&cid=8169605
After the 40 or so redundencies on Friday, It is already expected by the workforce remaining at Southampton, that they are on borrowed time - probably until the end of 2010 at the latest.
The site will probably no longer be viable and would fetch a high price for more housing?!
So I understand, Anon3, the company has been bought and asset-stripped for its IP. IP developed, in many cases, at the expense of the European taxpayer.
They haven't a clue what to do with the IP.
Trident Microsystems Inc. said Monday that its quarterly loss widened as the company took a big inventory write-off.
The company, which makes chips for digital televisions, said its net loss was $23.4 million, or 34 cents per share, in the last three months of 2009. That compares with a loss of $14.6 million, or 24 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding items, the company lost 22 cents per share, which was bigger than analysts predicted and included a $2.8 million write-off "pre-production" inventory. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 18 cents per share.
Revenue jumped 66 percent to $31.9 million, but was still short of analyst estimates for $32.8 million.
Sylvia Summers, Trident's CEO, called the inventory write-off "disappointing" but added that the company's acquisition of NXP Semiconductors' television systems and set-top box business lines — which closed Monday — will help the company by creating a "much larger and more diversified revenue and customer base."
Trident Microsystems shares fell 4 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $1.77 in extended trading. They had closed up 11 cents, or 6.5 percent, at $1.81 during the regular trading session.
Good wish to the Southampton engineers. They are the good employees.