Linkabit Lays Off 80; Industry Slump Cited

Blaming the ongoing high-tech industry slump, M/A-Com Linkabit Friday laid off 80 technical and support staff members at its San Diego operations.

No further layoffs are expected “in the foreseeable future,” according to company spokeswoman Cheri Hart.

The layoffs were needed “to retain future profitability,” said Hart, who linked the layoffs to development contracts that either failed to materialize or that have been delayed.

The layoffs were the first since 1982 for the San Diego-based division of M/A-Com, a Burlington, Mass.-based company that employed more than 1,350 workers in San Diego County before the layoffs, Hart said.

Linkabit was founded in Los Angeles in 1968 by college professors Andrew J. Viterbi and Irwin Jacobs. When the company agreed to be purchased by M/A-Com in 1980, it had 400 employees.

Since then, the company has grown to include three divisions that produce video, commercial products and products sold to the government. The layoffs, which did not affect the manufacturing ranks, were spread across the three divisions, Hart said.

The company recently announced that CBS Inc. had signed a contract to use a television signal-scrambling device that was designed and built in San Diego. The scramblers keep outsiders from receiving television signals. In 1984, HBO and Showtime selected an earlier scrambler, which was also designed in San Diego.

M/A-Com supplies components, equipment, and systems for commercial telecommunications and defense applications.