14 DAY TRIAL // German memory manufacturer Qimonda has announced that it has plans of shutting down one of the company's research and development facilities in Williston or Burlington, Vermont. This action is likely to reflect upon 75 of around 125 Vermont employees that are to lose their jobs. The rest of 50 employees have been invited to pack and move to a plant in Cary, North Carolina. The company expects that not all the invited employees will make the move to Cary, which will increase the laid-off workers count at about 100.
Qimonda has taken steps to cut production costs. The company has recently announced that it will be shifting production at a Richmond-based facility that offers larger "wafers" for improved chip productivity.
"This is based on us looking at our company structure and looking at creating a development center that will be most efficient for the future of the company," said Alan Walker, senior director of Qimonda's Vermont operation.
The announcement came as a tough blow to Vermont, as Walker appeared with Governor Jim Douglas and other officials at a news conference back in August. There, they announced that the company had future plans in Vermont and needed to employ more skilled technicians.
Vermont Economic Development Commissioner Mike Quinn showed his disappointment about the news and said that the state will find a solution to hire the affected workers. "There are talented people that are here and are now Vermonters, and we'll do our best to help them stay here," Quinn said.
Qimonda has about 325 employees in the Cary facilities and the company estimates that about 100 of the 450 workers at the two Vermont locations are about be fired. "We need to be more efficient at what we do in order to be competitive. This is just one more step in the effort to better utilize the resources we have," spokeswoman Donna Wilson is alleged to have said.