Troubled personal computer company AST Computer Corp is slipping further into a dark hole with steep slippery sides, having announced its exit from the European desktop and server market. The departure of the now Samsung Electronic Co Ltd-owned company (CI No 3,091) from this space has brought with it another round of job losses. The European workforce will be reduced by 50%, while staff at the company’s European headquarters in London will be cut by 60% to just 28. AST’s manufacturing plant in Limerick, Ireland will be moved to a smaller site nearby and will employ 135 staff instead of the current 430. The past twelve months have seen the company axing jobs left, right and center. At the beginning of December it announced 35% of its international workforce would lose their jobs, bringing staff totals to 1,120 (CI No 3,304). This move followed a 25% reduction in the international workforce in April, shortly after it was snapped up by Samsung (CI No 3,145). In the first quarter AST reported a net loss of $110m on revenues that fell 23.0% to $347m. AST will now concentrate on the portable notebook personal computer market, the most profitable area of the business in a last ditched attempt to claw its way back to profitability.
