Fairchild said it will build a Japan factory.

Fairchild Camera & Equipment, based in Mountain View, Calif., will produce very large-scale integrated circuits at a factory to be constructed in southwestern Japan beginning in early 1987. In another announcement, the firm said it will lay off about 650 employees and sell two plants, according to Donald Brooks, Fairchild’s president. In Sunnyvale, Calif., Signetics announced that the continuing slump in the semiconductor industry will cause layoffs of 400 employees between now and the end of June. In San Antonio, Tex., officials of Datapoint said layoffs of 310 employees nationwide this week are part of a move by the company’s new leadership to reduce operating costs and return to profitability.