Bowing to weak Asian microchip demand, Brookfield’s Photronics Inc. is idling its Singapore plant that makes photomasks used to imprint microcircuitry onto silicon wafers.
Photronics said Tuesday the shutdown short term will result in a hit to fiscal 2012 earnings of $2.5 million but long term will save the company between $3 million and $4 million a year, much of it cash.
The cut in Singapore photomask production will idle about 60 workers. Meantime, the plant’s work will shift to Photronics’ other plants in South Korea and Taiwan, said founder, Chairman and CEO Constantine S. Macricostas.
Photronics says it will reveal more details about its impending Singapore shutdown in a scheduled Wednesday conference call with Wall Street analysts.
Photomasks are used to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and flat panel substrates during the fabrication of integrated circuits.
