1/25/00 Conf Call 2000 Q1 Earnings - Selected Bytes - Business Overview Part II
2000 Q1 Earnings Conference Call 1/25/2000
Entire event: 2000 Q1 Earnings Conference Call (67 min.)
corporate-ir.net
Note: "unit shipments of MSM chips down" section highlighted in bold.
Richard Sulpizio Segment -- Timemark: 2:45
Richard Sulpizio: As Irwin noted, wireless data is expected to propel wireless useage much higher in the next few years. At the forefront of that growth is our CDMA technologies business so I'll begin by reviewing their accomplishments. In the first quarter of fiscal 2000, QCT announced several ground breaking new chip set solutions which includes chips and system software to support HDR with data rates, as Irwin said, up to 2.4 megabits, 3G for both multi-carrier and direct spread modes, and wireless position location technology.
As Irwin stated, we completed the world's first over-the-air call using our 1x chip sets. These announcements are important because they show our commitment to keep Qualcomm in an industry leading position. Our 6th generation MSM phone chip, the MSM-3100, is already achieving many major design wins and the phone manufacturers using the 3100 are progressing well towards production. In addition to holding all of our current MSM-3000 customers, we have added new customers for the MSM-3100.
We shipped 14.5 million MSM phone chips during the quarter, which is up from 5 million a year ago, and slightly up from the 4th quarter of fiscal 99. We recorded a book-to-bill ratio of .9 which is basically flat from the September quarter. We expect to see unit shipments of MSM chips down sequentially in the second quarter of fiscal 2000. We believe this is a result of inventory balancing by QCT customers and seasonal factors. However, we believe the year continues to look very strong with industry forecasts of total CDMA phones sold in the 70 million range.
Turning to our consumer products division, QCP shipped a record 2.2 million phones in the first quarter of fiscal 2000 reflecting the typically higher volume holiday season. As you all know we have announced an agreement to sell the QCP business to Kyocera with an expected close date in February. Everything is on track with a target to close of February 21 assuming we receive regulatory approvals on time.
Last week, Kyocera concluded its review of personnel requirements which will result in the transfer of people from our QCP business to a Qualcomm subsidiary. These resources will be contracted to Kyocera on a cost plus basis.
The wireless systems segment had a good quarter with 14,000 Omnitracks units shipped, bringing the total cumulative Omnitracks units to over 320,000 units. We completed the asset purchase of CMac(?) Mobil Solutions in Europe and announced an agreement to provide Omnitracks to the 2 largest transportation companies in China.
On the Globalstar side, we began volume production of handsets in the first quarter to support the commercial launch of service that is currently under way in several markets. The initial feedback from customers for Globalstar phones has been very positive. |
