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The economic tsunami has reached our shores. Regionally, the numbers look dismal: Singapore is experiencing its worst downturn in post-war years, Korea down over 5 per cent of GDP, Japan exports down 35 per cent, China growth down to 6.8 per cent.

And now Intel is shutting “two existing assembly test facilities in Penang”.  The two plants in Penang are among four Intel facilities worldwide that have been targeted for closure in 2009.  The closures could shed at least 5,000 jobs globally within the firm, which employs 83,000 worldwide.

The Star, however, reports:

Intel Corp’s corporate affairs manager in Penang Loo Cheng Cheng said the two affected facilities, the PG6 and PG7 plants, where manufacturing takes place, were the company’s older and smaller plants.

“We have a total of six plants in Malaysia running manufacturing, research and development and other services.

“With three plants in Penang and another three in Kulim, Kedah, Intel Corp in Malaysia has about 10,000 employees,” she said.

Loo said the closure of the two plants in Penang would affect over 1,000 of employees but the company would be offering the effected workers comparable job positions in its other Malaysian plants.

“It is safe to say that the company has no plans to lay off any workers for now,” she said.

However, it is still unknown when the two facilities will stop its operations in Penang.

Following the move to close the two plants here, the company’s operations in its Kulim Hi-Tech Park site will assume the role as Intel’s global manufacturing hub.

But Guan Eng is denying that the two plants are closing down; instead he says the company had sought relocation of the two plants to the Kulim Hi-tech Park.