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Intel to move 2,000 jobs out of Shanghai

Intel is consolidating its manufacturing operations in China and moving 2,000 jobs out of Shanghai.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers

Intel said Thursday it is consolidating its manufacturing operations in China and moving 2,000 jobs out of Shanghai.

"We are consolidating our manufacturing operations in China consistent with actions we announced a couple of weeks ago," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said Thursday.

Intel said on January 21 that it would close chip plants to align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions. At that time, Intel said between 5,000 and 6,000 employees would be affected.

"Assembly and testing facilities will be closed in in Pudong outside of Shanghai. This will take place between now and the second quarter of 2010," Mulloy said.

The action will move 2,000 jobs out of Shanghai. "There are two other sites. We have a large assembly test site in Chengdu in western China and the capacity is moving there. We also have a new fab (manufacturing facility) under construction in Dalian," he said. "The affected employees will be offered jobs at one of those sites."

"On the fab, we expect to begin production in the second half of 2010. It is a new fab at a new site, something we've not done in decades, so we will take our time in staffing and put extra training in place for employees. Right now the workforce in Dalian is relatively small but will ramp in the coming 18 months," he said.

For those who don't want to relocate to the other sites a standard severance package will be offered, he said.