In a move to further optimise asset utilisation and enhance performance for shareholders and customers, following the decision to deconsolidate its Flash memory business, STMicroelectronics announced last week that it will rationalise three of its manufacturing operations.

Over the next two to three years – after all products manufactured at these sites are re-qualified at other facilities – the company will wind down operations at its 6-inch (150mm) wafer fab in Carrollton, Texas, its 8-inch (200mm) fab in Phoenix, Arizona and its back-end packaging and test facility in Ain Sebaa, Morocco.

In executing this plan, ST will focus on customer satisfaction and ensure a seamless transition in the supply of products from different sites, a statement on the company’s website said.

These measures follow the completion of a programme to migrate most of ST’s global 6-inch wafer production to operationally less-expensive 6-inch fabs in Singapore or to finer-geometry 8-inch facilities around the world.

As a result of this earlier programme, most of ST’s 6-inch fabs in Europe were phased out or converted to 8-inch manufacturing and ST realised savings of more than $150 million per year. ST’s 6-inch wafer manufacturing facility in Carrollton, which was largely spared from this earlier round of consolidation, has been designated for closure this time.