Equipment Leader Cuts 11per Cent Of Staff
Applied Materials is to reduce its global work force by 1750 people or approximately 11% of its headcount. In August 2002, the company had about 16,000 workers. Employees were being notified starting November 5, 2002. About 800 jobs will be lost in Silicon Valley in California and 200 in Austin, Texas. The remainder of the cuts will be at other locations worldwide. The plan is to make the redundancies by the end of the companys Q1 2003. Chairman/CEO James C Morgan says: "Despite our stringent cost-savings programs, the continuing uncertainty in the marketplace makes it necessary for us to take additional action to lower costs while at the same time preserving our investment in the technology and infrastructure that will enable Applied Materials to emerge from this downturn even stronger."
