Matsushita sets up job-cut program

Matsushita Electric Ind. Co. Ltd is offering early retirement to some of its 15,000 semiconductor division employees to cut costs and raise profitability, according to a Bloomberg report which cited a company spokesman as its source. Matsushita is set to accept applications for early retirement up until mid-July from employees in Japan who have been with the company for at least 10 years, the report quoted Akira Kadota, a Matsushita spokesman in Tokyo, as saying in confirmation of an earlier Nihon Keizai report.

"Our strategy has been to focus on system chips that can be used in a wide variety of our products, but we are taking further steps to boost profitability," the report quoted Kadota as saying.

According to Japanese newspaper reports Matsushita expects to eliminate about 1,000 employee positions, or about 6 percent of the semiconductor division jobs, although Bloomberg> quoted Kadota saying that the numbers are speculative.

- Peter Clarke

EE Times