Kash, Cyrix is still kicking around.
Is Taiwan Inc. ready to snap up Cyrix?
By Om Malik
EW YORK. 12:25 PM EDT—National
Semiconductor (nyse: NSM) wants to get rid of
the money-losing microprocessor maker Cyrix
Corp. by June 30. However, the company has
announced no deals. Aren't there any buyers for
Cyrix?
Forbes.com sources say that some Taiwanese chip
companies are looking at buying Cyrix from National.
The price being offered for Cyrix is said to be in the
range of $150 million to $175 million. The leading
candidate in the race seems to be chipset maker
VIA Technologies. But the talks might be dragging
because National has a hefty price tag on Cyrix.
Sources familiar with the matter say that National
wants $375 million.
Apparently, Wen Chi Chen, president of VIA
Technologies, is visiting the U.S. and might be here
for talks with National Semiconductor, trying to
negotiate a price. Both VIA and National have denied
any deal is in the works.
However, sources close to the company say that the
deal is quite possible, especially in light of VIA's
recent troubles with Intel Corp. (nasdaq: INTC).
The Cyrix acquisition would make a lot of sense for
VIA Technologies, which was initially funded by
Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics.
Formosa, in addition to VIA, has investments in
memory chip maker Nanaya and motherboard maker
First International Computer (FIC).
FIC also makes and assembles personal computers
for other companies. By buying a microprocessor
maker, Formosa would have all the pieces to churn
out low-cost PCs and compete aggressively in the
market.
"It would surprise me," says Linley Gwennap, editor
and analyst at The Microprocessor Newsletter, a
Sebastopol, Calif.-based industry newsletter. In his
opinion, it would cost more than $150 million to run
Cyrix successfully, and VIA might not have that kind
of cash.
Besides VIA, there is speculation that a consortium
of Taiwanese chipmakers might step in to buy Cyrix
if the VIA deal doesn't go through. National needs to
hurry up the sale of Cyrix since the engineers there
are sending out résumés. If Cyrix loses talent, it
would become difficult for National to sell the
microprocessor unit.
Its been six weeks since National Semiconductor
Chief Executive Brian Halla announced that his
company was getting out of the PC microprocessor
business and would be ridding itself of its Cyrix
division. National wants to sell its South Portland,
Me. factory and the 300-person team at Cyrix's
original headquarters in Richardson, Tex.
This is the latest chapter in the story of Cyrix, which
National acquired in 1997 for $550 million. It is
unfortunate that Cyrix is having such a tough time
finding buyers, given that the company has some
pretty decent chips coming down the pike. For
example, 0.18-micron versions of M II chips in three
different versions--400, 433 and 466 MHz--are on
cards and are likely to hit the shelves later in June.
A mobile version of M II 433 is also on cards.
Also on cards are new chips going by the code
name Gobi, which combines the Cayenne core (an
enhanced version of M II), a 256 K on-chip L2 cache,
a Socket 370 interface and 3Dnow support. The Gobi
chips are expected to come to market in the third
quarter 1999. Cyrix also plans to support a 133 MHz
front side bus on Gobi, which is likely to put the chip
on an even keel with Celeron chips.
Cyrix has dropped the chip code-named Jedi, a
socket 7 version of Gobi, and had delayed MXi, an
integrated processor based on the Cayenne core.
Instead Cyrix is said to be working on a chip called
Mojave, which is supposed to ship in the second
quarter 2000.
forbes.com |
