Agilent Technologies is closing its fab in Ipswich, England, and shifting production to Singapore.

Agilent operates a wafer fab in Ipswich, where it produces lasers used in fiber optic transceivers.

According to a company spokesman, about 200 employees are being laid off from the fab. The remaining 50 employees -- mostly R&D and strategic marketing staff -- will be relocated to a smaller facility in Ipswich.

The R&D engineers are expected to focus on R&D for fiber optics in the telecom metro data networking market, which is the most advanced high-tech segment of Agilent’s fiber optic portfolio.

French telecoms company Alcatel has also warned it expects R&D staff at Livingston, Scotland, to be cut following the sale of the optical components business to Avanex.

Around 60 of the 160 staff are expected to go and the fab will completely be shut down by the end of July

By: DocMemory
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