Freescale to lay off 250 at Bangalore centre

Freescale Semiconductor, Texas-based computer chipmaker, has decided to retrench around 250 professionals at its Bangalore centre, as the company seeks to lower its operational costs by shutting down several manufacturing units across the globe and trim its payroll.

The impacted staff at the Bangalore centre worked at Freescale’s cellular product group (CPG), which is being rationalised by the company. When contacted by ET on Thursday a Freescale spokesperson confirmed the developments. “As part of Freescale’s 1Q09 earnings announcement, the company is finalising the strategic transformation of Cellular Product Group (CPG). Given these actions, the size of the CPG organisation will be much smaller than it is today,” said Gloria Shiu, Freescale’s spokesperson for Asia.

Without giving any specific details about the number of employees being asked to quit, the company added that it will offer an appropriate severance package to the affected staff. “We are notifying the CPG employees in India that would be separated from the company. We stated earlier that the global actions would likely impact approximately 20% of our global workforce, and would not disclose additional details beyond that,” she added.

Freescale has around 1,400 people in India spread across three centres - Noida, Bangalore and Hyderabad.