Intel Ends Presence In Philippines

**themann** · January 22nd, 2009 09:13 AM

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - Microprocessor giant Intel told its employees in the Philippines it will close its test-and-assembly facility in the region after over 20 years of operations.

The announcement was carried in a company e-mail sent to Intel employees at around 10am Wednesday.

The move came two months after Intel initiated its first batch of job cuts in the Philippines.

Intel said there are succeeding "phases" in the planned restructuring and promised to pay separation packages to employees who will be affected.

However, the firm had not indicated a timeline for the planned shutdown of its plant in General Trias, Cavite, south of the Philippine capital of Manila.

At least 1,800 Intel personnel are to be affected by the shut down.

Reports indicate that the U.S.-based chipmaker is also planning to shut down three other facilities in other countries, citing the global economic downturn had weakened demands for its products and reduced profits.

grabe ang laki ng impact nito on displaced workers.......

**j_avonni** · January 22nd, 2009 09:21 AM

Heard the news in the radio this morning. Too bad! Another 1,800 unemployed. I hope they get hefty separation benefits to tide them over while looking for another job.

:coffee: [SIZE="1"]4103[/SIZE]

**Negus** · January 22nd, 2009 09:59 AM

TS, can you please post the source link to this article? TIA.

**uls** · January 22nd, 2009 10:21 AM

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...4qoLSaL5wsdzIg

Intel to shut facilities in Malaysia, Philippines, US

1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chip maker, announced plans on Wednesday to close facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said the moves were expected to affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide.

"However, not all employees will leave Intel," the company said in a statement. "Some may be offered positions at other facilities."

Intel said it will close two assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia, and one in Cavite, Philippines, in addition to wafer production facilities in Santa Clara and Hillsboro, Oregon.

The closures, Intel said, will take place between now and the end of 2009.

The moves were designed to "align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions," the company added.

Intel reported last week that the economic slowdown and slumping demand for personal computers sent net profit sharply lower in the fourth quarter of the year.

It said net profit in the last three months of the year plunged to 234 million dollars, down 90 percent from a year ago.

Intel has also warned that it expects even worse results this quarter than the previous three months, with an expected revenue of seven billion dollars.

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**nicolodeon** · January 22nd, 2009 02:30 PM

You can point your blaming finger the Cavite local government for this.

**jansky** · January 22nd, 2009 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by nicolodeon

You can point your blaming finger the Cavite local government for this.

why point to the local government since this is a worldwide problem? its economic meltdown

**alwayz_yummy** · January 22nd, 2009 05:02 PM

well, not just the local government of cavite.. blame also the national government... hirap na magnegosyo sa pilipinas! tatadtarid ka na sa tax, tatadtarin ka pa sa penalty, and worst, pati sarili mong tao na nagmakaawa sa yo magtrabaho, ninakawan ka na, dinemanda ka pa sa labor!

hay.....

theres a world financial meltdown, but our government still wont admit na damay na tayo..... di kasi nila nakikita buhay ng common na tao, basta mahalaga nasa kanila parin ang pera na dapat para sa bayan

**safeorigin** · January 22nd, 2009 08:24 PM

well, seeing that small companies are maturing and nearly equalizing intel in terms of tech, this should be interesting. on the otherhand,

boo for intel

**nicolodeon** · January 22nd, 2009 10:07 PM

why point to the local government since this is a worldwide problem? its economic meltdown

True but in case some of you don't remember or don't know, Intel had a much larger presence years ago than that of the "small" plant they would be closing soon. Did any of you know that the Pentium 4 chip was, well, researched and manufactured here in the Philippines? They had a huge presence here: from a research and testing center to a huge wafer manufacturing plant. Anyways let me continue my story on why we may trace Intel's closure on the Cavite local government.

Some time back, local government of Cavite took an interest in what Intel was earning. Cutting the long story short, they decided to tell Intel that the chip giant owed the local government of Cavite millions of pesos in taxes. Intel countered that they shouldn't pay the amount being asked for because they have an agreement with the Philippine government that they (Intel) are operating with a tax holiday. Meaning they are except from certain (heck may be even more!) taxes.

The Cavite government won't budge even if Intel showed them proof that the chip giant does really operate with special privileges in terms of taxes. Intel took the case to court and to the BOI. Well, we all know how "fast" our judiciary system operates here so the case just sat on the case. Same with the BOI which (I think) did nothing. As the case draged on, the local government of Cavite decided to put interest on the amount that they are asking Intel to pay. So, the chip giant finally put their foot down and told the government that they'd rather close the plant than to pay the allegedly exorbitant amount of taxes that was being asked. Our government didn't do anything, much less the local government of Cavite.

So, Intel scaled down in a big way their operations in Cavite by closing perhaps their largest wafer manufacturing plant and moving the plant elsewhere. So where did our government end up? Poorer by millions and a lot of people loosing their jobs, a few of which are my IT and engineer friends.

Fast forward today. Yes, Intel is scaling down it's operations worldwide due to the global economic crisis but what if their huge wafer manufacturing plant was still here? Maybe the chip giant will just be scaling down operations, not closing down the whole barn.

**LadyRider** · January 23rd, 2009 02:48 AM

If am not mistaken, the first office of Intel was in South Super Hi-way near Buendia pa nga diba? Nakakahinayang at kawawa naman ang mga employees lalu na yung mga matatagal na sa kanila.

Would you believe even in Accenture, formerly Andersen, another multi-national company here in Pinas has chopped out 600 employees from the low-ranking up to managerial positions!

Although same with Intel, they were given separation pays naman. But still, madadagdagan pa rin daw ang matatanggal sa trabaho.

Tapos ngayon magtataas pa ng singil sa kuryente! Haaaay!