Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Microchip Sells Fab Facility In Washington

Chandler, Arizona-based analog semiconductor manufacturer Microchip Technology Inc. announced Tuesday that it has sold its idle Fab 3 manufacturing plant in to an undisclosed buyer for $30 million. Microchip said the transaction closed Oct. 19 and amounts to a $16.5 million net income tax loss, or an earnings-per-share hit of 7.4 cents that was applied to Q3 2007. Microchip added that negotiations got underway when it received an unsolicited offer for the Puyallup, Washington-based plant in September. Steve Sanghi, Microchip's president and chief executive officer, explained that the company accepted the offer because it had already decided to shut down Fab 3 for several years, citing adequate production and revenue capacity from its Fab 4 facility in Gresham, Ore., and its Fab 2 plant in Tempe, Ariz.