COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Atmel Corp. has laid off 140 permanent employees in Colorado Springs in its latest round of cuts due to weak economic conditions.

Nineteen-year Amtel programmer Barry Pettis tells The Gazette the layoffs affected hourly workers as well as salaried managers (http://bit.ly/W5ps2H ). The company, based in San Jose, Calif., makes touchscreen microcontrollers.

Atmel's investor relations director, Peter Schuman, says the cuts Tuesday and the layoffs of 60 temporary workers in mid-December came because the company's Colorado Springs plant has been operating at about 70 percent capacity for more than a year.

The plant now has about 1,100 employees.

About a year ago, the Colorado Springs City Council approved retroactive tax breaks that cut the company's tax bill by $339,070 on $25 million in capital spending planned by 2015.

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com