NatSemi sends staff home for 10 days

National Semiconductor's 13,000 staff worldwide have been told to go on holiday for ten days in a bid to cut costs.

The workers have a choice this autumn of either taking ten days holiday or the equivalent time as unpaid leave, preserving their holiday entitlement.

The move comes after months of poor results following the Asian economic decline, and increased competition.

Joe D'Elia, associate director of the semiconductor group at Dataquest, said: "This is standard practice in the US when the semiconductor market sees a downturn. Shutting down forces workers to use accrued holiday which cuts costs and helps to control inventory." Intel also shut down for nine days on 4 July.

D'Elia believes the situation will not improve until the demand increases beyond the growth of the market. He added that "the sub $1,000 PC would not have happened if processor prices had not fallen over the last 12 months". However, although the effects of the market will continue to trickle down to PC prices, he believes it will not have a massive impact.

A spokesman for National Semiconductor told Silicon News: "This is not really a worldwide shut-down. Employees will take time off at different times, as long as it totals ten days."

He said the move is designed to both cut costs and reduce production.

The company has already cut 1,400 jobs this year, through attrition and lay-offs.