Last month, tech supplier Texas Instruments (TXN -0.87%) announced it would downsize its wireless division, and the first wave of 1,700 resulting layoffs is fast approaching. Within the next few months, more than 500 jobs will be cut at a factory close to Nice, France, according to media reports. The news comes in the wake of a recent "downgrade" rating from brokerage firm Stern Agee.
Some of TI's biggest customers, including Apple, have begun creating their own Open Multimedia Applications Platform microprocessors for smartphone and tablet products. Its factory at Villeneuve-Loubet housed engineers concentrating on microprocessor technology, and now 84% of the factory's 609-person workforce faces unemployment.
Texas Instruments is reportedly working with the French government to find a new owner for this factory. Layoffs are also expected to occur in Israel, India, and the United States.
