The credit crunch is showing its first major signs in the UK technology sector with the loss of around 800 jobs in Scotland at Freescale Semiconductor, a US-owned computer chip company based in East Kilbride, near Glasgow.
Freescale has confirmed that it will stop making chips at its East Kilbride factory, which employs about 1,000 people. They hoped to find a buyer, to save the Scottish jobs, but as no buyer has been found it is forced to close down. The factory is likely to be closed by Spring 2009.
The credit crunch is only partially to blame for the closure, as a more competitive global market and advances in new technologies have also resulted in a loss of market share for Freescale.
Freescale’s factory was established in the town by Motorola in 1969 to design, manufacture, test and package embedded microchips for use in mobile phones and car engines.
The closure was described as being a huge blow to East Kilbride and the local economy by local MP Andy Kerr.
