Layoffs at Ampleon during surge of RF activities in Nijmegen

Ampleon recently fired 24 engineers at its location in Nijmegen. Asked for a statement, the company said: “After years of steady growth in 5G and adjacent markets, Ampleon has had to take dedicated measures in 2020 to safeguard its business continuity after one of its major customers was impacted by geopolitical measures.” According to our sources, this customer is Huawei.

The Chinese smartphone and network gear powerhouse got blacklisted by the United States. Per last spring, even non-US companies need Washington’s permission to supply Huawei – unless they don’t employ any technology of American origin in the manufacturing process. Recently, Bits&Chips reported how ASML got impacted by these measures.

Ampleon is the spinout of NXP’s RF Power division (link in Dutch). It got acquired by Chinese state-controlled investment company Jianguang Asset Management in 2015. At the time of the spinout, Ampleon said it planned to invest in R&D and its engineering capacity. The company grew from 1,250 employees in 2015 worldwide to the current 1,650, spread across sixteen locations.