Prefab computer giant, Dell Computer Corp., plans to close their Austin, Texas plant and move production to Malaysia within the next two years. The idea, of course, is to cut production costs. The information I could track down made no mention of what would become of the 17,000 employees that work at the Austin plant. Dell is the second largest employer in the Austin area.

The decision will affect the company's shipments to the retail market in North America, which the Austin plant used to be responsible for. After closing the Austin plant, Dell will ship half-finished notebooks manufactured by three Taiwanese notebook makers - Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron - to Penang first for final assembly and software installation, and then ship the finished products to retailers in the US.