Symbolics to Lease Space in Chatsworth to Rockwell

Symbolics said it will sublease 97,000 square feet of unused manufacturing space in Chatsworth to defense contractor Rockwell International as part of a broad restructuring of the financially troubled maker of artificial intelligence computer equipment.

Symbolics, which is based in Cambridge, Mass. but has all of its manufacturing in Chatsworth, said it also is subleasing 120,000 square feet of office and research space in Concord, Mass. The company said both moves are expected to save the company $2.8 million over the next year and from $8.5 million to $11.1 million over four years.

Artificial intelligence is a term used to describe computers designed to emulate human reasoning. Symbolics makes so-called symbolic processing computers, or machines that can process symbols rather than the strings of numbers that most computers do.

Two years ago, Symbolics moved into the 228,000-square-foot complex in Chatsworth to accommodate what, at that time, was an exceptional growth rate.

But the company, like other firms in the artificial intelligence field, has been hurt by such problems as a slowdown in spending by defense firms for its systems and competition from fast-growing makers of sophisticated computer equipment such as Sun Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif. and Apollo Computer of Chelmsford, Mass.

For the six months ended Jan. 3, Symbolics lost $19.9 million on revenue of $47.8 million. The loss included $13.5 million in charges related to such restructuring costs as layoffs and selling inventory.