Nikon has said it will reorganize its lithography operations, cutting 800 production workers in Japan and 200 marketing and support staff worldwide. By October, Nikon plans to combine four production subsidiaries into two, focused on IC and display equipment.

Axcelis Technologies, a supplier of ion implantation and cleaning systems, has announced a global workforce reduction of approximately 235, or 20% of its employees, since year end 2008.

Nearly 5,000 firms in England and Wales went into liquidation and a record number of people succumbed to insolvency in the first three months of 2009, as the deepening recession claimed more victims.

Innovation is taking a hit these days, with some people even blaming it for the financial market crash. But while most companies are trying to cut costs by eliminating staff and shutting down operations, some are finding new ways to innovate and grow by predicting—and quickly readying themselves for—emerging markets.

Internet search company Yahoo announced Tuesday that it would slash 5% of its workforce, as it reported a first-quarter profit that fell sharply from a year earlier but still managed to beat Wall Street's forecasts.

As per Taiwan labor law, we issued documents on April 3 to over 200 former employees certifying that their employment was terminated due to deteriorating business conditions.

Freescale Semiconductor cut more jobs in Austin and elsewhere Wednesday as part of a yearlong campaign to reduce costs in the face of weak market demand. Through the end of January, Freescale had disclosed 228 job cuts in Austin. The company employed about 5,000 people in Austin and 23,000 worldwide before this week's job actions.