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National Semi to cut a fourth of workforce

National Semiconductor says it plans to slash 1,725 jobs, or about a fourth if its workforce. Manufacturing facilities in Texas and China will be shuttered.

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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National Semiconductor said Wednesday it would slash 1,725 jobs, or about one-fourth if its workforce, as earnings dropped sharply in its most recent quarter.

Manufacturing facilities in Arlington, Texas, will be shuttered
Manufacturing facilities in Arlington, Texas, will be shuttered National Semiconductor

The Santa Clara, Calif.,-based company reported on Wednesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit plummeted 71 percent, to $21.1 million from $72.9 million a year ago. Revenue dropped 36 percent to $292.4 million.

Job cuts will take place across the company, which currently has a workforce of about 6,500, and will involve, in coming months, the shuttering of facilities in Arlington, Texas, and Suzhou, China.

The chipmaker will incur charges of $160 million to $180 million in severance and other costs.

National Semiconductor describes itself as a supplier of "energy-efficient analog and mixed-signal semiconductors." Its products include "power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers, communication interface products, and data conversion solutions," according to its Web site.

There's more bad news to come. The company said on Wednesday that it expects between a 5 percent and 10 percent sequential decline in sales, well below analyst expectations.