Has the layoff wave begun?

Dylan McGrath, EETimes
11/10/2011 2:09 PM EST

Fears about a wave of successive layoffs by semiconductor firms were stoked last week when two chip makers gave out walking papers.

AMD announced it would cut about 10 percent of its workforce, roughly 1,400 jobs. Spansion—the NOR flash memory vendor that, ironically, was once an AMD subsidiary—said it would ax about 750 jobs, or around 20 percent of its workforce.

These actions have led many people to question—with some trepidation—whether we have entered that period in a semiconductor industry down cycle when fear and the herd mentality both set in, leading to layoffs at many firms.

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