National Semiconductor Corp. announced that it will...

National Semiconductor Corp. announced that it will reduce its worldwide work force by about 500 over the next several weeks. The reduction, which will affect all levels of employees at the Santa Clara, Calif. firm, is the result of staff reorganizations to meet National Semiconductor’s business plan following the purchase of Fairchild Semiconductor on Oct. 8. This is the final transition reduction as business groups and operations worldwide are consolidated. The combined company has about 38,000 employees. National Semiconductor is a leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductor and systems products.