Jobs boost plan 'on hold'

ADC makes telecommunications equipment

An American electronics firm's plan to create more than 1,000 jobs in Fife have been put on hold.

ADC Telecommunications says that worsening market conditions has forced it to put off opening its European headquarters in Glenrothes.

It already employs 200 staff in the town. They produce sophisticated copper, optical fibre, and wireless products for internet suppliers.

Last February ADC announced it would be spending £27m on a new manufacturing facility and employing up to 1,100.

At the time it was described as one of the largest investments by a hi-tech US company in Scotland in years.

The Minnesota-based firm promised to build a 50,000 square feet plant at Bankhead Park and it pledged that recruitment would begin immediately.

Jobs shed worldwide

The new jobs were said to be highly skilled and would draw on the pool of electronics talent in Scotland.

Mary Quay, vice president of international manufacturing operations at ADC's Broadband Connectivity Group, said at the time: "This is a very important day in ADC's continued global expansion.

"This facility firmly establishes our commitment to support our rapidly growing base of European customers."

But ADC, which has 196 employees in the UK, has announced it is shedding 9,500 jobs worldwide.

The Scottish Executive, which has been in talks with ADC, says it expect the company to continue to base its European headquarters in Fife in the longer term.

The electronics industry in Scotland employs 40,500 people directly with another 29,500 employed indirectly in the supply infrastructure.

Scotland's semiconductor fabrication plants employ more than 5,500 people, and suppliers to the semiconductor industry provide work for 2,700.