14 DAY TRIAL // While certain companies are busy with restructuring and ending up bereft of their figureheads, others are looking to expand, such as Samsung Austin Semiconductor, which intends to boost its workforce.
One can safely say that the first quarter of 2011 was one that saw many strange things come to pass, and this includes more than just the abysmally slow rate of product launches.
Among other things, the workforce and staff composition at certain, high-profile IT companies went through serious changes.
More precisely, Advanced Micro Devices and Acer are both bereft of actual chief executive officers, something that could very well be called Apple's fault.
Meanwhile, Acer chose to lay off a number of its workers in China, but this is the opposite of what Samsung is up to.
Apparently, instead of firing people, Samsung Austin Semiconductor wants to hire about 300 of them, mostly engineers and technicians, over the course of the first six months of 2011.
Meanwhile, the outfit opened a research and development (R&D) center in Austin, meaning that the fab that used to make NAND flash memory chips is now set to also produce logic devices .
"In 2010, we hired more than 600 employees as part of the current expansion, bringing total employment to approximately 1,700," said Charmaine Winters, senior human resources manager at Samsung Austin Semiconductor. "We are delighted to continue this positive hiring trend in 2011."
Apple will be the main customer of the new foundry. Samsung is looking for engineers with a degree in this field or other sciences, like physics and chemistry.
Both experienced and entry-level process and equipment engineers and technicians are eligible.
Looking back, it is not overly surprising that Samsung would take a move of this sort. After all, it was hinted at well enough when the investment of $3.6 billion was announced last year.