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Intel Corp., the world's largest chip manufacturer, said Friday it has decided to close down its research and development (R&D) center here in South Korea in line with the company's ongoing restructuring efforts.

The closure comes less than three years after it opened the 20-member center in Bundang, south of Seoul, in 2004. The center was the first research facility attracted by the Ministry of Information and Communication.

"The decision, which was made two days earlier, is part of the company's restructuring efforts," Intel Korea spokeswoman Joo Yang-ye said. "It has nothing to do with the research environment here in South Korea." In September, Intel announced a plan to trim its workforce by more than 10,000, or 10 percent, by next year. Observers, however, say the U.S.-based company would withdraw from South Korea to focus more on a research center to be built in Shanghai with more than 1,000 employees.

Joo said the 20 researchers working at the center, mostly South Koreans, will seek new jobs at Intel in accordance with its redeployment program, but if they fail to find new work within three months, they will have to leave the company with an unspecified amount of compensation.

The center has been conducting research on digital home and next-generation communications technologies in cooperation with the South Korean government.

Seoul, Jan. 5 (Yonhap News)