Texas Instruments closes its French operations – not saying OUI to France

In the wake of what will total 1700 cut jobs in its Telecom division Texas Instruments announced earlier this month that it will be cutting 517 of the 609 jobs, the majority of which at the Villeneuve-Loubet R&D center in the Alpes-Maritimes. While the 60-person sales team in Boulogne will remain intact, this represents a hard blow to France, who has seen many of its grands entreprises cutting jobs, whether it be Peugeot, Bouygues, SFR, or, now, Texas Instruments.
TI’s job-cutting comes after it announced in November that it will move away from its wireless and microprocessor activities, stating that the market was no longer viable for a third party. With most major players in the space – namely, Samsung and Apple – producing their hardware in-house, and other players moving into this space (like Huawei).
This is another tough blow for France, as it continues to push its campaign “Say OUI to France,” hailing France as an R&D haven for multinationals. Between India’s cheap cheap cheap labor and France’s not-so-cheap corporate taxes, its easy to see how France, like its luxury market, is the first to go in times of crisis.