50 lay-offs at NEC Semiconductors

About 50 voluntary lay-offs are to take place at the Japanese-owned NEC Semiconductors Ireland plant in Ballivor, Co Meath, as a result of a restructuring programme, the plant's personnel manager said yesterday. Mr Justin Wallace said there could be fewer than 50 voluntary redundancies among the 500 staff as the plant increases its emphasis on profitable microcomputers and customised products, away from memory chips.