MEMC to lay off another 200 employees

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. said today that it will lay off 200 workers of its Korean-based subsidiary, as it cuts deeper to align manufacturing abilities with lower production needs.

The Korean operations are a joint venture between MEMC and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. MEMC owns 80 percent of the venture.

These latest layoffs, outlined in a regulatory filing, come less than two weeks after the O’Fallon, Mo.-based company announced cuts at its facilities in St. Peters, Mo., and Sherman, Texas. It plans to lay off 200 workers between those two U.S. operations.

MEMC said severance payments would be about $6.5 million for the layoffs in Korea, which should be completed by the end of June, and $2.5 million for the U.S. cuts. Overall, the cuts annually will save the company about $30 million, it said.

MEMC makes polysilicon, a raw material used in wafers for electronics and solar applications. The company also makes semiconductor, or electronics, wafers and sells solar wafers. Global economic troubles have hurt both the solar and semiconductor segments. The challenges led MEMC to issue a first-quarter earnings estimate last week that was below analysts’ expectations.

The stock fell 3 percent Tuesday to close at $15.63. Based on market reaction to MEMC’s forecast, shares had slipped to $16.18 by the end of Monday, down 15 percent from Thursday’s close of $18.94.