Limerick company remains tight-lipped over reports of temporary 'shut down'

ANALOG Devices has yet to comment on reports of a slowdown in its operation in Raheen over Donald Trump's blacklisting of Huawei.

The Leader understands from various sources at its Limerick base – which makes semiconductors for Huawei smartphones – that they have been asked to take paid holidays as part of a three-day production shutdown next month.

It comes after the US commerce department blacklisted the Chinese giant, and effectively halted its ability to buy American-made parts and components. In the wake of these restrictions, Google has suspended activity with the giant, which supplies huge numbers of smartphones into the market.

The move is a huge worry to staff at Analog Devices’s Raheen plant.

Headquartered in Massachusetts, the firm employs 1,200 at a vast complex on the edge of the city which serves as its main European base. One worker there, who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, said: “The consensus is, people have been asked to take holidays, or unpaid leave if you don’t have holidays remaining. It could be anything from three to five working days. It’s to ensure we don't build up an inventory because of the uncertainty out there at the moment.”

The worker added that all staff “right across the board” are affected. Analog workers globally are impacted by this.

“It’s obviously quite unsettling,” they added.

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