Shinko Microelectronics, a Japanese firm based in Dublin, is expected to announce the closure of its Tallaght facility tomorrow, resulting in the loss of 350 jobs.
Senior Japanese executives are flying to Dublin and have scheduled a meeting with the Tβnaiste, Ms Harney, and IDA Ireland officials, to announce the results of a company-wide review.
Sources close to the Government said yesterday it was bracing itself for a closure announcement because of the poor state of the semiconductor market.
In a separate development, Altavista, one of the world's first internet search engines, said yesterday it would shut its Dublin-based European finance office, with the loss of 10 jobs.
The company is making 160 staff redundant worldwide and closing its online shopping service based in the US.
The closure of Altavista's office, which was forecast to expand to employ 30 people this year, together with job losses at Shinko, are further blows to the high-tech sector. However, Altavista's fortunes have slumped along with the internet sector.
Shinko, a joint venture between Fujitsu and Shinko Electronics, has had an operation in the Republic since 1980. It produces electronic components and memory semiconductors for the mobile phone market in Europe and Asia. It also served as a key European logic subcontracting base for Shinko Electric.
In 1999, it announced plans to invest £70 million in a new factory in Dublin but subsequently put these on hold.
In recent months the company has suffered from the severe downturn in the technology sector. Fujistu, which owns 49 per cent of Shinko Microelectronics, announced 16,500 job cuts last month.
Even at the height of the global technology boom, Shinko's Dublin operation was haemorrhaging cash. Its most recent filings with the companies office show it lost £7,402,640 in the year to March 31st, 2000.
A spokeswoman for the Tβnaiste confirmed last night that Ms Harney would meet senior company executives tomorrow.
Mr Brian Hayes, Fine Gael spokesman on social, community and family affairs, called on Ms Harney to make an urgent public statement on the situation.
A Shinko spokesman would not comment on reports that the plant would close last night. Staff at Shinko have not yet been informed by management about the results of the company review. However, several employees told RT╔ news last night that things had not been good at the plant for a while.
