E Ink Holdings (EIH) is in talks with employee representatives of Hydis Technologies over the closure of two factories at its South Korean subsidiary, with the loss of more than 300 jobs (Hydis Closes Down its Operations).
Earlier this month, it emerged that EIH had decided to close the factories, which produce small and medium sized-LCD panels, because Hydis’ production has been low in both capacity utilisation and yield rates. According to EIH, Hydis has lost more than $100 million since it was acquired by E Ink in 2008 for $310 million. Hydis, which owned three LCD production lines and fringe field switching technology was bought by EIH to help the company maintain sufficient LCD capacity after it switched production in Taiwan to ePaper, to meet a growing demand from Amazon.
A spokesman for EIH was quoted as saying that the company had done everything it could to improve Hydis’ business, including adjusting the product mix and streamlining operations, but it has been unable to stem losses from the subsidiary.
