Dive Brief:
- Chip and component maker Vishay Intertechnology plans to close three plants worldwide in 2026, laying off approximately 365 employees, or 2% of its total manufacturing workforce, according to a Sept. 24 press release.
- The Pennsylvania-based company will close two small resistor facilities, one located in Milwaukee and the other in Fichtelberg, Germany, as well as a semiconductor component facility in Shanghai. Vishay is set to complete production transfers in phases beginning Q4 2025.
- The various changes in operations and production transfers will result in severance payments to an additional 260 employees, the company stated. Vishay estimated the closure plans will cost the company between $38 million and $42 million in Q3, mostly related to severance costs.
Dive Insight:
The restructuring is part of the company’s five-year “Vishay 3.0” strategy, which executives introduced at its Investors Day in April.
The strategy includes a $2.6 billion investment in its operations, with 70% of the funds going toward capacity expansion.
Vishay 3.0 focuses on reaching growth and financial targets at a lower cost, such as optimizing the company’s global manufacturing footprint. The first step is to close smaller, single-product line facilities, such as the Milwaukee plant, and move operations to large “campus-like” facilities with multiple product lines, Vishay president and CEO Joel Smejkal said in the press release.
In August 2023, Vishay opened a resistor facility at its Juárez, Mexico, site. The plant will also consolidate its resistor supply chain, which was previously manufactured at three other facilities, to streamline the process, improve cycle times and reduce inventory and costs, according to Vishay’s video.
The chipmaker is also expanding sites and consolidating processes for its Europe-based customers. In March, Vishay acquired Nexperia’s 200mm wafer fabrication facility and operations in Newport, U.K. for approximately $177 million. The wafer fab sits on 28 acres with the ability of further expansion, potentially producing 100,000 wafers monthly, COO and EVP Jeffrey Webster said in his Investor Day remarks in April.
Vishay is also building a 12-inch wafer fab in Itzehoe, Germany, which will be located next to its 8-inch wafer fab, Webster added. Once the new fabrication facility is completed and connected to the existing plant, it’ll produce up to 55,000 wafers a month.
