Advanced Micro Devices Inc. PRI is now in the process of laying off nearly 20 percent of its work force, said spokesman Jeff Nestel-Patt. This is indicative of how quickly the market conditions can change,'' Nestel-Patt said. While high-tech manufacturing may suffer more before prosperity returns, economists said it won't match the magnitude of the industry's contraction in the wake of Digital Equipment Corp.'s collapse in the late 1980s. More than 200,000 workers lost their jobs between 1984 and 1994, mostly due to the fall of Digital and other minicomputer makers. The manufacturing industry is smaller.
Jobs continue to decline today, but at a pace of a few thousand per year.
A diverse and growing high-tech manufacturing industry has been a stabilizing force, said Elliot Winer, a state government economist. The tech-industry boom had benefits in surprising places. Companies that supply manufacturers are thriving, such as Nypro Inc., a Clinton-based maker of plastic casings for laptops, cellphones, and wireless devices, or Kennedy Dye Castings, located in the Worcester Airport industrial park. Paul Kennedy's father started the company in 1948, but it looks far different today. The company sells heat sinks to the likes of EMC Corp., Lucent, and Intel.