Qimonda Portugal to lay off 590, say reports

In April, Qimonda Portugal laid off 800 employees for six months and terminated hundreds of temporary contracts, keeping only 200 workers to maintain the plant. Now, 590 of the employees that had been sent on forced leave are been laid off.

This move, according to local press, is needed to keep the company afloat. Nonetheless, reports state that the unit plans on 770 jobs in the facility and that former employees could be re-hired.

Qimonda's Vila do Conde unit filed for insolvency at the end of March, two months after the parent company filed for insolvency at Munich court.

Contacted by EE Times, Sebastian Brunner, working for Munich-based lawyer Dr. Michael Jaff, who acted as insolvency administrator for Qimonda AG, highlighted that "for Qimonda Portugal there is another insolvency proceeding, which is legally separate from that her in Germany for the Qimonda AG. That means the insolvency administrator in Portugal acts according to his legal duties."

Qimonda Portugal, situated in Vila do Conde, is dedicated to providing manufacturing and engineering services in the semiconductor business, operating in particular in assembly and test of DRAM memory products. These memories are incorporated in computers, servers and various digital equipments such as MP3 players, mobile phones, photographic cameras and game consoles.

Qimonda's Portuguese subsidiary initially employed 1600 people.

Late September, a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the purchase by Texas Instruments Inc. of semiconductor manufacturing equipment from Qimonda's fab in Sandston, Va. Qimonda's U.S. subsidiaries, Qimonda North America Corp. and Qimonda Richmond LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 20.

On Oct. 12, Qimonda gave shape to a venture aimed at liquidating the company's semiconductor licenses. To be based out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the new Qimonda Licensing LLC will focus solely on Qimonda's worldwide patent portfolio.