Sale of Atmel's French fab approved

The sale is expected to close in the second quarter. Over 700 workers are currently employed at the Rousset fab, which manufactures Atmel's high-performance ASIC, memory and microcontroller devices.

Late last year, silicon foundry upstart LFoundry signed a deal to purchase Atmel's wafer fab in Rousset. Atmel has been trying to sell the fab for some time, as part of an ongoing move to divest non-core businesses and become a pure microcontroller play.

Based on the proposed terms of the French fab sale, San Jose-based Atmel expected to record a non-cash impairment charge not to exceed $200 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In accordance with French law, Atmel presented the proposed acquisition to the employee representatives of the Works Council in Rousset. The Works Council was expected to render its opinion on the proposed transaction in the first quarter of 2010.

In January, microcontroller vendor Atmel Corp. (San Jose) announced it is exploring the potential sale of its smart card business located in Rousset, France and East Kilbride, Scotland but that it intends to discontinue potential sale discussions for its customer-specific products and aerospace businesses.