BANGKOK, Dec 9 – Sanyo Semiconductor (Thailand) announced Friday that it would close its factory in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, after the facility was severely damaged in the recent flooding, to shift its production line to other factories in the country.
In the statement, Sanyo Semiconductor said the flood caused extensive damage to the factory which was the operations unit of ON Semiconductor Corporation.
The operation’s shutdown has affected the semiconductor supply chain worldwide.
The company occupies approximately 160,000 square feet of production space and employs some 2,000 people at its Rojana Industrial Park factory.
ON Semiconductor’s Sanyo Semiconductor division currently operates wafer probe, assembly and test operations in Rojana Industrial Park.
Prolonged flooding of Rojana Industrial Park caused so much damage to the company’s machinery and buildings and the rehabilitation cost would be too high, and was considered not economically viable.
The company said that it would be costly to restart the production line in Thailand so that the firm has decided to stop its operation at the factory in Ayutthaya.
Most of the workers’ contract will end Dec 25 but some would be hired to retrieve machinery and equipment, and clean up the factory site before permanently closing, but the company plans to maintain a limited production line at its Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate in Ayutthaya.
The company occupies about 8,000 square feet of production space at its Bang Pa operation, employing approximately 150 people at this site.
The floods during October and November inundated seven industrial estates and parks in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, forcing hundreds of factories in the computer, electrical appliances and automotive industries to stop operating.
Although most estates and parks have resumed operations, the closures have interrupted global supply chains and are expected to impact computer sales next year.
