BAGUIO (Philippines) - TEXAS Instruments, one of the world's biggest semiconductor manufacturers, is laying off 400 workers from its factory in the northern Philippines due to the global financial crisis, officials said on Friday.

The Labour Department's assistant regional director Sixto Rodriguez said the US-based company had notified the government of the cuts that will take effect on Jan 15, 2009.

He said the company has assured the government that it will give the laid-off employees all the necessary benefits and is offering them early retirement.

Company spokesmen would not comment however.

Texas Instruments employs about 2,300 people in its plant in the northern resort city of Baguio where it makes semiconductors - conductive elements used in electronic circuits - mostly for phone maker Nokia. It is the biggest taxpayer in the region.

The company has been operating in the Philippines for 28 years and was one of the pioneers of the electronics industry which has become the biggest export sector in the country.

Texas Instruments announced in May 2007 that it would invest around US$1 billion (S$1.45 billion) in a new test and assembly facility at the former US Airforce base at Clark, north of Manila.

The company would not comment on the fate of that plant in the face of the economic contraction that is hitting many countries.

The Baguio facility conducts final assembly and testing of semiconductors for customers in computer, aerospace, telecommunications and automotive industries in the US, Asia and Europe.

Press reports earlier said that Lear Automotive Services, a maker of automotive wire harnesses for export, was laying off 80 workers from its plant in the central Philippines. -- AFP