Research in Motion is to slash its workforce by over 10% as it kicks off a company-wide cost-cutting drive.

Cisco Systems, the largest networking-equipment company, may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, or about 14% of its workforce, to revive profit growth, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Nokia said the staff reductions will happen in phases until the end of 2012 and all the employees concerned can remain with the company until the end of 2011. Nokia previously said it plans to reduce its Finnish workforce by 1,400 people.

Cisco Systems is expected to cut thousands of jobs in possibly its worst-ever round of layoffs to meet CEO John Chambers' goal of slashing costs by US$1 billion, according to analysts.

As part of the investment volume planned for the 2011 fiscal year, Infineon Technologies is investing about Euro 198 million in production capacity expansion and in R&D in Austria. Infineon intends to create 400 jobs in Austria in the course of this fiscal year.

Panasonic plans to cut 40,000 jobs globally over the next two years, the Kyodo news agency and the Nikkei business daily reported. The job losses represent about 10% of the company's workforce, and most of the cuts will come from the company's overseas divisions.

Ford is to cut its workforce in Victoria by 240 after a slump in demand for larger cars, and competitor Toyota will reduce hours for manufacturing staff in the wake of the Japanese earthquake disaster.

Cisco is shutting down the consumer-oriented Flip camera business that it bought for US$590 million in 2009. The move will mean the loss of 550 jobs worldwide, cost Cisco US$300 million - and disappoint thousands of users who had enjoyed the devices' simplicity.

Nokia workers are bracing for what may be the steepest job cuts in almost two decades as the company prepares to start a partnership with Microsoft. A reduction in R&D activities is set to be announced by the end of April, with as many as 6,000 jobs under threat.

Renesas Electronics is cutting nearly 10% of its 50,000 employees by the end of 2010 as it outsources production, according to a Nikkei report.

IM Flash Technologies has advertised dozens of jobs openings in the island city-state of Singapore for its 300mm fab. IM Flash Singapore is currently looking to fill 61 jobs, including engineering, procurement and recruiting positions which points that they are closer to ramp-up.

Popular social-networking site Facebook will open an office in India, joining a long list of international firms that have looked to tap a skilled workforce that provides support services at relatively cheap wages.

The total number of employees in India is projected to rise to 10,000 from about 6,000 currently, Cisco CEO John Chambers said at a conference in New Delhi today, without specifying a timeframe for the expansion.

Canon expects China's camera market to become the world's largest as early as 2015, overtaking the US, its head of the business said. The world's biggest camera maker is doubling the number of outlets and boosting its marketing workforce in the Asian nation.

Putting all this into long-term perspective, the current problem offers a glimpse of the likely more massive labor shortage issue that China is set to face in the next few decades as its single-child policy keeps accelerating the aging of its still-enormous population.

Vacuum technology firm Edwards is to cut 220 jobs in Sussex as it locates all its manufacturing operations overseas. The move marks a shift in strategy for the Crawley-headquartered company that had previously trumpeted its strong UK manufacturing base, which dates back to 1919.

The recruiting of what will be hundreds of new workers over the next few years marks a striking turnaround from last January, when Chartered announced that it would cut 500 jobs.

Today's announcement will impact approximately 220 employees in Japan. Nokia last week announced it plans to reduce some of its R&D activities in Finland and Denmark.

Nokia plans to align its R&D operations in Finland and Denmark. Up to 230 employees at the Oulu site in Finland and around 100 employees at the Copenhagen site in Denmark will be affected, Nokia said. The number would represent about 2 % of its R&D personnel globally.

Angry workers at Atmel's fab in Rousset, France, have gone on an unlimited strike. The strike aims to protest against Atmel's decision to sell its site in Rousset without guaranteeing its employees.

With an investment of up to US$1.2 billion, 500 full-time jobs, and more than 800 construction jobs, Hemlock Semiconductor's new facility will increase polycrystalline silicon production to meet the needs of the growing solar industry.

Applied Materials has announced it will cut 10% and 12% of its global workforce over the next 18 months, with half of the cuts in the US. Applied saw net income for its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter slip 40% on year.

"The problem for Applied and the problem for semi equipment in general is that it's highly unlikely that we're going back to 2007 capital spending levels..."

A Spansion spokesperson said through a prepared statement that a "small restructuring" took place at Spansion on October 26. The layoff was "necessary to better prioritize and align the company's resources with its business goals and emergence from Chapter 11," according to the statement.

Sun Microsystems plans to eliminate up to 3,000 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide workforce, as it awaits a takeover by Oracle, a deal being held up by antitrust regulators in Europe. Sun said the job cuts will happen over 2010 and affect all of Sun's major regions, including North America, Europe, Asia and emerging markets.

Qimonda already laid off 600 staff in April this year. Another 800 employees were sent on forced leave. Now, 590 of these will be laid off, while the remaining 200 employees will continue their force leave, according to local Portuguese media reports.

Toshiba plans to relocate as many as 700 engineers by October to help cut semiconductor-research spending.

GTM Research says boom in US solar manufacturing to create 20,000 jobs between 2009 and 2012.

CEO Mike Splinter said that his company must respond to the fundamental changes in the markets it serves.

The picture painted by the report is varied, but the general pattern is one of fewer people moving to foreign countries for work. For example, there was a sharp decline in the number of Mexicans moving to the United States.

Fujitsu Services operation in the UK has announced a rationalisation programme across its workforce, proposing a reduction of up to 1,200 jobs. It currently employs 12,500 people in the UK.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International will eliminate 106 jobs as it shutters its manufacturing facility in Phoenix and shifts those operations to Singapore.

Despite a rebound in business, Applied Materials is set for more layoffs and cost-cutting, according to an analyst.

Chipmaker Altera has cut about 3% of its 2,700 person work force, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Chip equipment maker ASM International (ASMI) has announced that it is accelerating its cost reduction and restructuring of worldwide front-end operations.

Cisco Systems has continued trimming its workforce at its San Jose, CA, headquarters. Sources close to the company say between 600 and 700 employees (about 1% of global workforce) at the networking giant received layoff notices.

Once completed, Globalfoundries' Fab 2 project is expected to create more than 6,400 direct and indirect jobs in the region.