US' PMC to cut 10% of Israel workforce

Communications company PMC merging two startup companies acquired in Israel in recent years

Reuters | Published: 03.16.12, 08:06

US communications developer PMC is set to cut about ten percent of its workforce in Israel following the upcoming merger of the two companies it had acquired in Israel in recent years. The company is expected to dismiss about 25 of its 300 employees from both of its divisions in Israel.

PMC is following a number of hardware companies that have been conducting layoffs in the past week wherein approximately a total of 100 employees were dismissed at Primesense, Celtro and Amimon.

PMC has two R&D centers in Israel, one in Herzliya, formerly Passave – a developer of optical fiber data transfer chips. Acquired by PMC in 2006 for $350 million, and the other in Raanana, formerly Wintegra – a developer of cellular communications chips which was acquired by PMC at the end of 2010 for $240 million.

Until now, the two centers operated as separate entities but are scheduled to merge in the new few months into a single R&D center located in Herzliya Pituach in a building which according to estimates is not far from PMC's main offices and is currently being renovated.

Head of the Raanana center Kobi Ben-Tzvi, who will head the new center, told Calcalist that "The move is not easy and we will see it through while ensuring the wellbeing of the employees who leave us.

"The merger will form a stronger business unit that will lead PMC's landline and cellular communications that are two areas in which we wish to increase our competitiveness. For this end, it was decided to unite our forces rather than operate through smaller units in narrower markets".