Mark, I'm still in AMCC at 28.:-(
>June 19, 2001
Dave Rickey
Communications chipmaker AMCC yesterday marked the completion of the steel framework for its new corporate headquarters, undeterred by the stock market's rout of Nortel Networks, which has ranked as AMCC's No. 1 customer.
Canada's Nortel, which accounted for 12 percent of AMCC's sales in the first quarter, warned Friday of a $19.2 billion second-quarter loss, including a $15.2 billion write-down in assets. Nortel also said an additional 10,000 jobs would be slashed, bringing total layoffs this year to 30,000.
Yet AMCC has continued its expansion, despite the broader slump in the communications equipment industry.
The 102,000-square-foot building under construction in Sorrento Valley is AMCC's fifth building in San Diego, and the first owned by the company. At its expected finish in December, the facility will provide 350 offices for AMCC's executive, engineering, marketing, purchasing and human resources departments.
While AMCC has slowed the pace of its hiring, chief executive Dave Rickey said, "We expect to be a very big presence in San Diego for years to come." The company has a global work force of 1,200.
Asked about the effects of Nortel's cutbacks on AMCC, Rickey said: "When Nortel talks to the public, they've already indicated the extent of their downturn to their suppliers.
"I think I've seen and digested the Nortel announcement long before they made it."
Yet Rickey acknowledged that "all confidence is gone" in the communications equipment industry in terms of calling the market's bottom. |
