Rick Merritt, EETimes
3/13/2015 01:29 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion completed their merger Thursday and notified staff of plans to cut as many as 1,600 jobs, according to an internal memo obtained by the San Jose Mercury News. The cuts represent more than 20% of the companies’ combined staff.
When the deal was announced in December, the companies said they expected to have combined revenues approaching $2 billion and save $135 million in annual costs within three years. It became apparent within less than a month of discussions about a potential merger that “we could run the combined companies a lot more efficiently,” said T.J. Rodgers, chief executive of the combined company, speaking in a video on the Cypress Web site.