Texas Instruments (TI) has laid off its MCU team in China (marketing and applications were retained, while R&D was abandoned) and moved its entire MCU product line to India.
It is said that all team members have been reassigned to other product lines, nominally with their positions and salaries remaining unchanged.
The company gave employees two choices: accept the reassignment to other product lines or voluntarily resign. This move is rather cunning, indicating that the company had no intention of going through a layoff process and would not offer any compensation to employees who voluntarily resign.
Reports indicate that TI's MCU R&D team in China mainly focused on the MSP430 product line, a series of 16-bit ultra-low-power, low-cost MCUs that TI launched to the market in 1996. Now, some team members have been laid off, while others have been merged into the LED DRIVER chip team. The domestic MCU industry is now engaged in a fierce "talent war." Fang Jing, chief electronics analyst at Minsheng Securities, stated that TI's MCU team was once one of the best-performing localized product lines, based in the Chinese market, specializing in localized customized development, and with very fast customer response. However, starting in early 2018, TI's MCU business began to decline, with the market gradually being taken over by emerging domestic MCU manufacturers, squeezing its survival space. "This team was mainly based in Shanghai, and the pandemic made operations even more difficult, so they simply withdrew," he said. He believes that although some employees could choose to transfer to other teams, the transition from digital to analog is significant, so "it was more of a stopgap measure for TI, as they didn't want to pay severance." He added, "The rise of domestic MCUs is accelerating, putting pressure on overseas leaders. This comprehensive layoff will likely further promote the substitution of domestic MCUs." Data shows that in 2020, Texas Instruments' general-purpose MCU market share was around 7%, far less than the top five companies such as Renesas Electronics, NXP, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and Microchip Technology, while domestic MCU manufacturers have made rapid progress in this field in recent years.
Fang Jing, chief electronics analyst at Minsheng Securities, stated that TI's MCU team used to be one of the best-performing localized product lines, based in the Chinese market, specializing in localized customized development, and responding very quickly to customers. However, starting in early 2018, its business began to decline, with the market gradually being taken over by emerging domestic MCU manufacturers, squeezing its survival space. Furthermore, this team is primarily based in Shanghai, making operations even more difficult during the pandemic.
He believes that this complete layoff will further promote the substitution of domestically produced MCUs, and TI's withdrawal is just a trend; he expects more similar events to follow.
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