Chip companies continue constant
climb
By Robert Ristelhueber
EE Times
(04/26/00, 2:14 p.m. EST)
SAN MATEO, Calif. ? More evidence that the semiconductor market
remains strong emerged this week as several chip companies reported
solid earnings. For many companies, the trend of double-digit growth
in sales and profits continued during the first three months of 2000.
Fairchild Semiconductor International (South Portland, Maine) reported
revenues of $401.7 million, up 127 percent from the same quarter a
year ago and 11 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 1999.
Revenues would have been 41 percent higher than the same quarter
last year, if the sales of the power device division ? acquired from
Samsung Electronics last August ? had been included.
First quarter adjusted net income was $52.3 million, or 53 cents per
fully diluted share of common stock, 237 percent higher than the pro
forma adjusted net income of $15.6 million, or 17 cents per fully
diluted share of common stock in the first quarter of 1999.
Kirk Pond, chairman, president and chief executive officer at Fairchild,
said, ?Our successful penetration into high-growth market segments
such as cellular phones and basestations, Internet infrastructure, and
switching and transmission equipment accelerated our growth in what
is usually a seasonally soft quarter for our industry.?
Actel Corp.
Revenues were a record $50.7 million for the first quarter at Actel
Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), compared to $40.8 million a year ago and
$46 million in the fourth quarter of 1999. Net income in the first
quarter, excluding goodwill amortization and other acquisition-related
charges, was a record $9.1 million, or 36 cents per share, compared
to $4.6 million, or 20 cents per share, for the same quarter in 1999 ?
and $7.3 million, or 30 cents a share, for the fourth quarter of 1999.
Gross margin hit a record 62.1 percent in the quarter. "Gross margin
improvements and continued spending controls allowed net income to
grow 25 percent over last quarter," said John East, Actel CEO.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (Sunnyvale) reported a 54 percent
increase in net revenues from a year earlier ? a record $226.5 million
? while net income hit $74.7 million, compared to $47.7 million last
year. Diluted earnings per share increased 53 percent from a year
ago, and gross margin was 69.9 percent, virtually unchanged from the
year-ago period.
Bookings in the quarter were approximately $304 million, an 8 percent
increase over the previous quarter, and a 78 percent increase over
the same quarter a year earlier. That increase is primarily attributed
to strength in the U.S. and European distribution channels.
Revenues during the quarter were $28.5 million at Oak Technology
(Sunnyvale), an increase of 158 percent from the previous quarter,
and a79 percent increase from the year-ago period. Net income,
including a one-time gain of $22 million from the sale of the Broadband
Business Group to Conexant Systems, restructuring charges related to
the acquisition of Xionics Document Technologies, and amortization of
intangible assets, was $2.6 million, compared to a loss of $11 million a
year ago. Excluding those special items, Oak reported a net loss of
$4.6 million.
"We have managed and executed the turnaround," said Young Sohn,
president and CEO at Oak. The increase in revenues from the previous
quarter was primarily due to the ramp in production shipments of the
OTI-9790 8x controller for the rewritable compact disk market, and to
the acquisition of Xionics, Oak said.
Anadigics Inc. (Warren, N.J.), reported record net sales of $43 million
for the first quarter, a 72 percent increase from the same period last
year. Net income was $5.7 million, or 18 cents per diluted share,
compared with net income of $1.2 million, or 5 cents a share, in the
year-ago quarter.
"The communications IC market is as healthy as ever," said Bami
Bastami, Anadigics' president and CEO. "We enter the second quarter
with a company record book-to-bill well in excess of 1.0." Anadigics'
gross margin was 50 percent, compared with 43 percent a year
earlier. |
