Troubled Chinese semiconductor plant has ‘no plans’ to resume operations, 240 lose their jobs
- Employees at Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ‘asked to resign’ via WeChat message, media report says
- No explanation given, no compensation offered, they say
Employees at Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (HSMC) – intended as a US$20 billion state-of-the-art facility – were “asked to resign” by the end of play on Monday via a WeChat message, Caixin Media reported on Saturday.
The factory, in central China’s Hubei province, said in the notice it had “no plan to resume work and production”. Employees were quoted as saying they had not been offered any compensation or given an explanation for the closure.
Other reports said as many as 240 people would lose their jobs.
HSMC was launched in November 2017 as part of a local government investment plan. The authorities said at the time that once running at full capacity the facility would create 50,000 jobs directly or indirectly, and have an annual output of 60 billion yuan (US$9.25 billion).
But the project was suspended two years later when much of its land was seized by a local court after the general contractor defaulted on payments.