Toshiba Corp. will idle the 12,000 employees in its semiconductor division for two to four days before the end of the year in an intensified cost-cutting effort to deal with the prolonged slump in the global information technology market, company officials have announced.
The last time the major semiconductor maker temporarily idled workers was in 1974 during the first oil shock.
The workers will receive a 10 percent cut in salary during the period, which will be combined with their yearend and New Year's holidays so the company can stop production longer than usual, the officials said Tuesday.
Those affected will include 6,800 workers at the company headquarters in Tokyo and at the plant in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. They will not work Dec. 27 and 28. The idled workers at the Tokyo headquarters will include those engaged in sales and clerical work in semiconductor operations.
A three-day stoppage will be imposed on 3,400 workers at the plant in Oita.
The longest release, four days, will be imposed on 1,800 workers at the plant in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture.
That plant is involved in producing dynamic random access memory chips, the components hardest hit by the IT slowdown.
The plan will not cover the Kitakyushu plant, the officials said.
Last month, Toshiba said it expects an operating loss of 110 billion yen and a net loss of 200 billion yen for the business year to March 2002, revising downward its earlier forecasts of an operating profit of zero and a net loss of 115 billion yen.
Toshiba expects an operating loss of 150 billion yen in its semiconductor operations.
On Monday, Standard & Poor's Corp. placed its BBB-plus long-term and A-2 short-term ratings on Toshiba on CreditWatch with negative implications, citing concerns over its ability to recover profitability amid the IT slump.