More than 100 jobs to be lost at city plant

Staff fear that it could be the beginning of the end for the historic site and the news has cast a shadow over plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary of operation in the city on July 16.

In total, 82 full-time staff will be made redundant and a further 22 contract staff will not have contracts renewed.

The 16-acre plant on Millbrook Industrial Estate offers some of the most highly-skilled jobs in the region.

News of job cuts will be widely seen as another blow to Southampton's prestige knowledge economy.

Work at the plant centres on research at the cutting edge of smart chip technology for electronic goods like televisions and DVD players.

Today's workforce of 450 is a fraction of the former 3,500 who worked on the site during the 1970s more than Philips employs in the entire UK today.

A spokesman for Philips, Europe's third-biggest chip maker, said that the move was designed to bring research and development spending in line with competitors.

He denied that the cuts were related to the so-called Lion plan, a project that will see Philips hive off its semiconductors into a separate business and float it on the Stock Exchange.

Previously Philips had denied making plans to axe staff.

One worker said: "Staff don't know what the future holds. It doesn't worry me. I shall put in for redundancy because the terms are quite good."

A spokesman for Philips said: "It is a sad day. The plant is celebrating its 50th year and we would like not to have to make this announcement but needs must.

"The environment is very competitive. We have to make the business leaner and meaner in order to compete.

"We will make every effort to relocate staff, particularly the 82 people on our full-time staff.

"We will make sure any vacancies in Philips are given to them and we'll help them find work outside Philips."

Redundancies are expected to start in November and be largely completed by the end of the year.