Closure of Freescale's East Kilbride fab nears

The future of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. at East Kilbride in Scotland, and that of 750 employees of the 1,000 working at the facility, took another bleak turn as the company confirmed the focus of ongoing consultations is now very firmly on closure.

According to the recent statement released by Freescale, "Following the May 8 announcement that a sale of the East Kilbride factory looks unlikely, Freescale and its employee representatives have now engaged in formal consultation on the remaining options for the fab. Formal consultation on all options will continue, but the focus will now be on the proposed closure of the fab.

"During the recent consultation process, employees fully examined the company's business case for East Kilbride manufacturing operations and explored the viability of all possibilities for the factory in light of customer requirement forecasts," it added.

Closure was first mooted nearly 11 months ago.

EE Times Europe reported in the previous month that a year after announcing that it was looking to sell the fab as an ongoing concern, Freescale told staff that no buyer has showed interest and it is about to start a consultation process in considering options for the facility, including closure.

The plant, on a 25ac site and features a 0.35? capable volume wafer manufacturing facility, including a 92,000sqft wafer fab cleanroom, and approximately 700 advanced process tools. The facility has been operating for over 20 years producing automotive chips, power devices for the networking and wireless communication industries.

- John Walko
EE Times Europe