Faced with embarrassingly weak figures after a long spell of dramatic outperformance, Motorola Inc is having to cut costs, and it is offering voluntary severance to thousands of employees in its semiconductor and automotive manufacturing plants. It is offering packages to about 6,000 employees at its wafer fabrication plants in Austin, Irvine and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The semiconductor sector will also shut down its non-manufacturing businesses at the three sites over the Christmas week. The company also offered voluntary severance packages in September to staff in the automotive arm in Albuquerque, New Mexico and in Schaumburg, Illinois.
