Infineon Technologies AG, the semiconductor spin-off of Siemens, will be repaying the 18 million pounds ($29m) it was given by the UK government to help build its ill-fated semiconductor fabrication plant in North Tyneside. Some industry watchers have suggested that the UK government was moved to ask for the aid back because Infineon has just announced that, along with IBM Corp, it is revamping its Corbiell-Essonies, France-based memory plant, to the tune of $486m.
The plant was opened in May 1997 to produce 16Mb and 64Mb dynamic random access memory chips. But, because of the downturn in the memory market, it was closed 15 months later with the loss of 1,100 jobs. The German firm attempted to find a buyer – there was talk of a Chinese consortium stepping in or a management buy-out – but although talks took place, nothing came of them. Last month, Infineon confirmed that it was now in the process of removing equipment from the plant, which will be mothballed by June.
