All of them will be shown step by step. Asian Economies Asia churns out most of the world's semiconductors, and many of the region's economies rely heavily on exporting them to the United States, the world's biggest consumer of electronics. Yet as Americans rein in their technology spending, the armies of Asian semiconductor workers are dwindling. The slack demand for microchips is battering the economies of South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Layoffs are rampant.
Despite the strong growth in 2000, the industry is experiencing a significant slow down and this should make 2001 a year of repositioning,' said Dean Freeman, principal analyst of Gartner Dataquest's semiconductor research. The cuts, the majority in manufacturing jobs, are expected to be completed this month at three plants in eastern Pennsylvania. Agere also plans to cut about 300 management jobs at those plants. The layoffs were announced on April 24. Due to weak market conditions and high inventory levels, chipmaker National Semiconductor Corp. said it will cut 1,100 jobs and warned that its results will be much worse than expected this quarter.