Taiwan touch screen maker lays off 7,000 at mainland factory

Taiwanese touch screen maker Wintek laid off more than 7,000 employees at its factory in Dongguan yesterday as over 200 mainland suppliers have spent the past week protesting unpaid debts they say total RMB230 million (US$37.25 million), South China Morning Post reported. One of the suppliers said that Wintek had closed suddenly and that there was no way to contact the company, as all the Taiwanese mangers had run off. Wintek reported a loss of NT$10 billion (US$320.5 million) last year, and NT$3 billion in the first half of this year. The company was once a long-term supplier for Apple.