Xilinx the multinational semiconductor manufacturer, has announced a 21 per cent fall in first quarter revenues to $289.3 million compared to the same period last year.

The company employs 360 people at an advanced R&D, engineering and operations facility at Citywest, Dublin. In April it said it would establish a regional office in Cork, employing 25 people, as part of a $41 million investment in the Republic. But despite the downturn in its business, a company spokesperson said there would not be job losses in Ireland. For the financial year ended March 31st, 2001, 40 per cent of the company's global revenues, some $663 million, came from the Republic. Globally, Xilinx reported a 63 per cent rise in revenues to $1.66 billion for its financial year to March 31st, 2001.

Commenting on the downturn in profits in the first quarter, Xilinx's president and chief executive Mr Wim Roelandts said: "The macro-economic climate continues to be difficult for the semi-conductor industry. Xilinx continues to be impacted by weakness in our primary end markets of communications and storage and servers and by excess inventory levels held by our major customers."