Texas Instruments Inc wants to make a partial divestment of its internal photomask operation in Dallas, and has invited Toppan Printing Co Ltd of Tokyo in as its partner in a jointly-owned US company that would acquire and manage the business. Under the agreement, presently at the letter-of-intent stage, Texas would receive a cash payment of $19m and would have a minority interest in the new company. The partners hope to have a definitive agreement by March 30, 1990 and Texas expects to report a pre-tax gain in the range of $13m to $15m in the quarter in which the agreement is reached. The new company will employ Texas’ current photomask workforce, which totals about 170 people. The operation is expected to remain in Texas Instruments facilities for the next two to three years, with any future relocation likely to be within the area around Dallas. The move will do nothing to pacify critics complaining that the US is progressively handing its capability in leading edge technologies over to Japanese companies to the detriment of the country’s national interest.
