BUDAPEST – Foxconn plans to lay off 1,500 workers in Hungary, more than half its workforce there, as a result of slipping orders, according to published reports.
 
After layoffs in Komarom and Debrecen, the firm will employ about 1,150 people near Budapest, Reuters said.
 
The economy in Hungary is expected to hit a recession in 2009 on dropping export demand and domestic consumption; the government predicts contraction for up to a year-and-a-half, according to reports.
 
Analysts say the country's 7.7% unemployment rate from August to October could reach more than 10% by the middle of 2009.
 

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- The enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission has notified Jabil Circuit it recommends no action on Jabil's historical stock option grant practices.

Following a roughly six-month investigation, the SEC Division of Enforcement issued a letter to Jabil advising the SEC not to take any enforcement action.

YOUNGSVILLE, OH -- SMT Resource Group, a seller of refurbished equipment, this week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company had recently moved from Texas to a former Flextronics site in Youngsville, where it leases 60,000 sq. ft.

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TORONTO -- Research in Motion is considering outsourcing production to companies in the Pacific Rim, according to published reports.

DigiTimes is reporting RIM vice president for Asia-Pacific Norm Lo as saying RIM's leading position in the fast-growing smartphone market is behind the company's continued outsourcing.

RIM currently outsources some product build to Elcoteq, and according to DigiTimes sources also contracts with Huizho, China-based TCL, a $5.8 billion ODM that is also a business partner of Alcatel, Toshiba, Thomson and Philips Electronics.