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ON Semiconductor to cut some jobs in Rochester

Alex Crichton
/
WXXI News

A local photonics company is cutting some jobs. ON Semiconductor is located on Lake Avenue, in the same facility used as the TAP,  or Testing, Assembly and Packaging operation that is part of the local AIM Photonics effort.

A story from 13-WHAM TV said that about 30 people are being laid off, but a spokesperson would only tell WXXI News that the company generally does not publish the number of employees who are laid off.

Kris Pugsley of ON Semiconductor describes it as a “small reduction” because of a change in the industry that affects one of the product lines. She says that as the performance from CMOS image sensors has improved, applications served by the CCD image sensors are now transitioning to CMOS devices.

But ON Semiconductor says that the Rochester site will still support other activities including various types of engineering functions and certain marketing tasks for its Intelligent Sensing Group.

Last year, state officials had announced an expansion at ON Semiconductor that was expected to create about 34 jobs.

The state was going to offer incentives to the company to help with the expansion, but the spokesperson for ON Semiconductor says that the company has not accepted the state incentives.

Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency, released this statement:

“We have been informed that ON Semiconductor is planning to ramp down its operations out of Rochester, citing an accelerated evolution in its product manufacturing business. While unexpected and disappointing, ESD and local partners are already working aggressively on potential alternatives consistent with the region's economic development strategies."

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.