Texas Instruments CEO Tells Merrill Lynch Financial Audience That DSP And Analog Technologies Provide Foundation to Broad Range of End Equipment
(For the Complete Text of the Speech, Visit the TI Web Site at: www.ti.com)
NEW YORK, May 3,Texas Instruments Incorporated Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Engibous told The Merrill Lynch Hardware Heaven Technology Conference today in New York that the fundamental semiconductor technologies of the Internet Age -- digital signal processing (DSP) and analog --set a strong, yet flexible foundation for a broad range of end equipment that provides real value.
Speaking in a keynote address at the conference, Engibous said the Internet Age trends of personalized connectivity,
increased bandwidth and convergence are shaping consumer demands but no one is completely sure what direction those
demands will take.
"Equipment makers that remain flexible can adjust their course, significantly increasing their options and opportunities," Engibous said."TI specializes in programmable DSPs that can be adapted and optimized to different applications by using software.
Quite simply,we are future- proofing our customers' investment,providing a sure-footed path through slippery times."
For example, TI has created a high-performance, real-time programmable DSP core that is optimized for the low power
requirements of handheld devices.
Using software, TI can take that DSP core and use it as the brains of a wireless phone in one application, an Internet audio processor in a different device and a digital still camera in yet another device.
"Great technology is one thing but users only care about what it does," said Engibous."TI's technology already has done a lot.
Wireless and broadband are two examples, but there's another huge market for our DSP and analog products in new and emerging equipment including digital audio devices, digital still cameras and digital speakers, and in more traditional
applications such as industrial controls and white goods that use DSPs for embedded control."
Engibous said TI is the market leader in wireless with more than 60 percent of all digital phones shipped having a TI DSP inside. Each business day, TI ships about 2 million DSP and analog chips to wireless handset makers.
In broadband, TI is making significant advances in both the digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable modem markets. During the first half of this year, TI expects to ship about 1 million DSL ports.
For central office equipment, TI is the only manufacturer today with a product that supports four modem ports per chipset.
"Later this year, we'll bring out an octal chipset and next year we'll have a solution that provisions the equivalent of 32 modem lines using a single chip, an increase of eight times what we're doing today," Engibous said.
"This plays into the network provider's value chain by letting them efficiently aggregate broadband lines per square inch of central office space.
In the cable modem market, TI also will significantly ramp our chipset shipments this year. The market is taking off, and TI is right in stride with the broadband market's momentum."
TI's impressive gains in wireless and broadband are just part of the substantial market for DSP and analog products
Engibous said.
TI's entire mass market segment grew 37 percent last year, the same growth rate TI saw in wireless.
In the first quarter, TI's mass market sales expanded 55 percent, actually exceeding TI's wireless growth rate.
"The mass market includes the world of unknown developers working in their garages, creating things most of us never
dreamed of," Engibous said. "But before long, some of these applications will become things we just 'can't' live without.
Internet audio is one emerging product.
A few years ago, Internet audio wasn't on anybody's radar screen, Engibous said. Today, TI has 30 design wins with
consumer electronics makers such as Sony and Thomson RCA.
"We believe that DSP and analog will be just as important to the Internet Age as transistors were to the age of mainframes and microprocessors are to the personal computer. Opportunities such as this are rare and I wouldn't trade TI's position with anybody."
For the complete text of Mr. Engibous's speech, visit the TI web site at:
ti.com |
