EINDHOVEN, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Dutch semi-conductor manufacturer NXP said on Friday that it would cut 4,500 jobs worldwide and sell factories in four countries owing to the tough economic climate.

The Eindhoven-based company said in a statement it would close its plant in Fishkill, New York, in 2009, and ones in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and in Hamburg, Germany, the following year.

It also said it would sell its factory in Caen, western France, which it said could close in 2009 if no buyer stepped forward.

'This restructuring is a tough measure and it is regrettable that we need to let people go,' the chief executive of NXP, Frans van Houten, said in the statement.

'However, the changes will make NXP a strong, profitable and growing company, with a positive cash flow.'

The statement said that 'the changes come in response to a challenging economic environment, a weak US dollar, and the reduction in size of the company after moving its wireless business into a joint venture with STMicroelectronics,' a French-Italian firm.

'NXP will do its utmost to redeploy affected employees into different positions, but sees redundancies as inevitable.'

The job cuts would allow the company to make cost savings worth 550 million dollars (390 million euros) a year, it said.

NXP is one of the world's top 10 makers of microchips, a sector which is undergoing upheaval as companies face the need for heavy investment in research and development.

The Dutch firm employs 31,000 people in more than 20 countries. It was founded by the Dutch technology giant Philips half a century ago and was spun off last year.

Its microchips and software are used in televisions, mobile phones, cars and other electronic devices.

Last year NXP had announced projects to boost its operations in Asia.

The firm now plans a 'migration to more advanced production processes, reduction of excess capacity in older technologies... while maintaining a strong manufacturing presence in Europe.'

It said it would 'consolidate the majority of its production' to two 'higher capability' sites in Nijmegen, Hamburg and Singapore.

Van Houten told a telephone conference on Friday that the company could not yet say whether other sites in France would be affected.