IRVINE, Calif. -- Low-cost personal computer maker Advanced Logic Research Inc. said Tuesday it will cut about 100 jobs, or 15 percent of its work force, as part of a cost-cutting campaign.
The restructuring plan also cuts the salaries of all employees paid more than $50,000, ranging from 5 percent to 30 percent for Gene Lu, its chief executive officer and president.
Advanced Logic Research had announced Sept. 25 that it would report an unspecified loss in its fourth fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 due to the recession and ferocious price cutting among personal computer makers. It forecasted that sales would be as much as 10 percent below the $52.7 million of revenue in its third quarter ended June 30.
'Our quick action to reorganize following our first-ever quarterly loss is designed to enable ALR to continue to be competitive in the current low-margin computer environment, and shows our willingness to take the difficult actions required to achieve this goal,' Lu said Tuesday. 'It is our intent to use our strong cash position to fuel new product introductions and grow our business.'
The company said it has launched a new line of file servers, the ALR Proveisa, priced at below $2,500. It said it will introduce a new low- cost desktop and new notebook computer this quarter.
The company, based in Irvine, Calif., went public in 1989 and posted strong growth in 1990 and 1991 by focusing on high-end personal computers.
The announcement is the latest in a wave of layoffs for California- based computer firms.
Mainframe producer Amdahl Corp. announced Monday it will cut 900 jobs; Hewlett-Packard Co. expects to cut 2,700 jobs by offering employees incentives to leave the company early next year; Apple Computer announced last month that it was laying off 345 employees and closing a plant in Fremont, Calif., and Pyramid Technology announced last week it will cut 110 jobs.
A dozen Silicon Valley computer companies announced layoffs in August, when California's jobless rate hit 9.8 percent before falling to 9.4 percent last month. The state has lost 760,000 jobs in the last two years.
