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Santa Clara-based National Semiconductor Corp. will close part of a plant in Scotland and fire 600 of the 1,000 workers there because of slumping demand for chips that go into phones, cars and computers. The company said it will take a $25-million charge in its fiscal second quarter, which ends Nov. 29, for the cutback in Greenock, near Glasgow.

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San Francisco-based First Republic Bank said it agreed to buy the 80.1% of Trainer Wortham & Co., a New York investment advisor, that it doesn’t already own. First Republic will pay about $2.2 million in cash and issue 917,000 shares for the rest of the company. First Republic completed its purchase of a 19.9% stake of Trainer Wortham in September 1997 for $7 million in cash to provide investment services to its customers.