In October, Brown, D-Cleveland, visited Silfex’s Springfield location to talk about the benefits of the federal CHIPS Act, which was passed last summer. It provided approximately $280 billion in new funding for domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S.
“For decades, we have had an industrial policy that encouraged companies to move jobs and manufacturing further and further offshore,” Brown told the Dayton Daily News this week. “We know the CHIPS Act will help strengthen and bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, but we also know it’s going to take time to do that and create the new jobs and economic growth we know are coming to Ohio and the country.”
Silfex, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lam Research, has locations in Springfield and Eaton, where local employees will face layoffs. Silfex makes the parts used in the equipment semiconductor manufacturers use to make chips.
A spokesperson from Lam Research said the decision to reduce its global workforce by 7%, resulting in approximately 1,300 layoffs, was due to recent trade restrictions with China and an anticipated decline in global spending on wafer fabrication equipment, a type of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, in 2023.
The spokesperson said there will be an impact to the local Silfex plants, but the facilities remain operational. No details on how many local employees will be laid off were provided.
No company notice of the layoffs appeared on the Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification, or WARN Act, site as of Tuesday afternoon. The act is designed to protect workers by requiring companies to give advanced notice of mass layoffs or plant closings.
The report of Lam Research layoffs came following a quarterly financial conference call and webcast on Jan. 25. Lam Research reported its revenue for the December 2022 quarter as $5.28 billion and and calendar year 2022 revenue of $19 billion.
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