Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Lenovo Group Ltd. of China, the largest PC brand in the world, terminated 92 employees in Taiwan in March, amid weak demand in the global tech market, according to the Ministry of Labor (MOL).
MOL section chief Chin Shih-ping (金士平), who arbitrates labor disputes in the local market, told reporters Thursday that Lenovo Global Technology (Taiwan) Ltd. had submitted a plan to the ministry on March 1, saying that the company intended to lay off 12 workers on March 4 and another 80 on March 20.
The layoffs were due to a decline in business, Chin confirmed, citing the Lenovo plan, which first came to light earlier in the day when the local media reported that the company had cut its workforce in Taiwan by about 100, amid a drop in global orders.
Lenovo Global Technology (Taiwan), one of the Chinese parent company’s two subsidiaries in Taiwan, is a computer and peripherals maker that has 901 employees registered in the national labor insurance system, Chin said.
The other subsidiary is Lenovo Technology BV Taiwan Branch (Netherlands), a computer and peripherals retailer, that has 106 workers registered in Taiwan’s labor insurance system, he said. That subsidiary has not given any indication to the MOL that it plans to lay off workers.
According to local media reports, Lenovo Taiwan had compiled its layoff list since February, planning to slash about 80 percent or more of the workforce in some divisions.
Chin said Thursday that the company’s management and workers had reached an agreement prior to the layoffs in March. However, if any employees were forced to leave, they are advised to file complaints with the local government labor authorities to seek redress, he said.
In the fourth quarter of last year, demand in the global PC market failed to pick up, even after recent inventory adjustments, and a slowdown was expected to continue into the first half of this year, according to local media reports.
In addition, an ongoing tech war between the United States and China had made it more difficult for Lenovo to secure high-end graphic processing units (GPUs) supplied by American chip designer Nvidia Corp. for the manufacture of servers, so it had become difficult for the Chinese brand to expand its overseas business, the reports said.
Taiwan’s Compal Electronics Inc. is the major contract maker of Lenovo’s PCs and peripherals, the reports said.
(Bu Wu Hsin-yun and Frances Huang)Enditem/pc
