Layoffs, Semiconductors, Hardware
Fairchild Slashes 1,100 Jobs
Wade Roush 12/15/08
Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) of South Portland, ME, said last week that it will cut its worldwide employee base by 1,100 jobs, or about 12 percent, as part of a restructuring plan intended to help the chipmaker weather the economic downturn. There was no word on how many of the layoffs will affect Fairchild employees in Maine, but Fairchild said the cuts would not affect its strategic R&D projects. We’ve updated the Boston Tech Layoff Tracker accordingly.
Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at (617) 252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wroush.
12/30/08 10:02 am
Fairchild has a confusing approach to sales with a direct, fixed cost salesforce with not enough people to cover the broad market. It would seem that adding reps would be a good idea to broaden coverage with a variable cost of sales tied to performance. With their current approach they should lose market share this year.