AMCC Cuts 11% Of Workforce

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a move to cut costs, Applied Micro Circuits Corp.--or AppliedMicro--is reducing its workforce by approximately 11 percent, according to a filing. The employees affected by the plan were informed on Jan. 12. It expects to incur cash expenditures of approximately $1.3-to-$1.7 million during this calendar year for employee severances. The company anticipates that the restructuring plan will reduce its ongoing net operating expenses by approximately $1.5 million annually. Recently, AppliedMicro claimed that it had turned the corner. In recent years, the company experienced a wave of losses, management changes and product setbacks. Over the years, AppliedMicro also made a number of questionable acquisitions, many of which failed to pay dividends. In January, AppliedMicro said that President and CEO Kambiz Hooshmand would step down after the company reported a loss. In April, LSI Corp. acquired the assets and certain associated intellectual property of the RAID adapter business of AppliedMicro for approximately $20 million in cash. At present, AppliedMicro is focusing on two main businesses: computing and transport/connectivity. On the computing front, AppliedMicro recently rolled out a CMOS-based, 32-bit processor, built around IBM Corp.'s Power Architecture.