News Article
Atmel announces strategic restructuring initiatives
Atmel Corporation announced strategic restructuring initiatives designed to enhance profitability, accelerate the company's growth and reduce costs.
Atmel Corporation announced strategic restructuring initiatives designed to enhance profitability, accelerate the company's growth and reduce costs.
A focus on the company's high-growth, high-margin proprietary product lines is planned to better align Atmel's resources with highest-growth opportunities, the company is redeploying resources to accelerate the design and development of products that target expanding markets and is halting development on lesser, unprofitable, non-core products. Atmel will seek to sell its wafer fabrication facilities in North Tyneside, United Kingdom and Heilbronn, Germany. These actions are expected to increase manufacturing efficiencies by better utilizing remaining wafer fabrication facilities while reducing future capital expenditure requirements.
Through better utilization of its remaining wafer fabs and the expansion of its foundry relationships, Atmel will significantly reduce manufacturing costs and continue to design and develop new products.
The company anticipates cost savings in the range of $70 million to $80 million in 2007 reaching an annual rate of $80 million to $95 million by 2008. Included in the cost savings is approximately $55 million per year resulting from the expected sale of the wafer fabrication facilities. Through a combination of voluntary resignations, attrition and other actions, Atmel expects a reduction in its non-manufacturing workforce of approximately 300 employees, or ten percent. The company anticipates headcount to be reduced by approximately 1,000 additional employees upon completion of the sales of the North Tyneside and Heilbronn wafer fabrication facilities.
