A portion of the facility here will continue to operate as anengineering site, along with other administrative supportfunctions. "As a result of the actions taken in the past few weeks,it was only logical to align the headquarters to where theexecutive management currently operates," Walid Maghribi, presidentand CEO of SIPEX says.

The company's backend activities will be transferred to itscurrent subcontractors in Malaysia. SIPEX, a semiconductor maker,says that the move will start immediately and will be completed bythe end of the current quarter. The company notes that it alreadyperforms all of its assembly and over 50% of its testing offshore.It will also transfer all of its equipment currently used in thisoperation to its subcontractors.

Maghribi points out that, "With the previously announced exitingof the hybrid business, the Billerica test operation no longer madesense." He adds that the closure was made to ensure the long termgrowth of the company. He expects, he says, that this action "willstreamline our operations, reduce our lead-time to our customersand further reduce our cost structure." The closure and relocationcompletes the basic restructuring of SIPEX, according to a releasedstatement. However, Maghribi notes, "we will continue to evaluateour performance and take whatever actions are required to improveour financial results."