Wipro may shut its centre in France

The global IT arm of Wipro Ltd, Wipro Technologies, is reportedly planning to shut down its development centre in Sophia Antipolis, France.

The company is said to have started consultation process with local employees in this connection. According to EETimes, in an open letter the employees of Wipro-NewLogic, based at its Sophia Antipolis center in France, have said that the company has closed the center and laid off its staff.

Wipro-New Logic development centre builds components and connectivity-based semiconductor intellectual property (IPs) in wireless and wire line segments that are used by customers in System on Chip (SoC) and ASIC designs.

According to the news report, the staff at the French center, numbering 61, had earlier written to the press saying that "We are the employees of Wipro-NewLogic's Research and Development center in Sophia Antipolis (France)... On the June 22, the executive management of Wipro-NewLogic announced to the employees that Wipro would stop all of its semiconductor activities in France and close the facility: 61 engineers will be terminated."

Commenting in the issue, Christophe Martinoli, head of France, Wipro Technologies, reportedly said in a statement that given the market conditions and the economic problems facing this business, we have had to review our semiconductor IP portfolio, a niche offering within our overall semiconductor business. After carefully considering all possible options, we have initiated a consultation procedure with the employee representatives in France in relation to the same.

The company, however, maintains that the likely closure will not affect its presence in France, which it plans to grow.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Wipro is pulling out of the semiconductor IP business. Earlier, the company had shut down its wholly-owned semiconductor IP company started in the US in the late 1990s.