Atmel Corp. (San Jose, CA) reported that it plans to sell its chip fab in Nantes, France, as part of its cost-reduction efforts. The 6 in wafer fab has a current production capacity of 2,500 wafers per week. Atmel is currently manufacturing semiconductors in BiCMOS, CMOS and non-volatile technologies in line widths down to 0.5 microns at the fab, but the facility is 0.35 micron-capable.
"As we look to focus on more advanced technologies and to reduce our overall cost structure, we have decided to sell our Nantes facility," stated Atmel President and CEO George Perlegos. "The intended sale of this facility represents an early step in our efforts to return Atmel to profitability. Additionally, we are diligently working to determine several more actions that we could take in order to help us operate more efficiently, reduce our labor force and bring down our costs."
