Cirrus Unveils New Chip Aimed at Large Market for Disk Drives
Bloomberg News
June 28, 1998, 9:01 p.m. PT
Cirrus Unveils New Chip Aimed at Large Market for Disk Drives
Fremont, California, June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Cirrus Logic
Inc., once a leading maker of computer-graphics chips, today will
unveil a semiconductor that by itself can control a computer's
disk drive, cutting the number of chips needed to run such a
device to one from as many as five.
The chip is designed to attract disk-drive makers that are
trying to cut costs without losing performance as prices for disk
drives and most other personal computer parts tumble.
Cirrus is betting that the new chip will boost sales to disk
drive makers, a high-volume market that it has been targeting to
boost sales. Cirrus needs new products to make up for poor sales
of older chips that produce sound and graphics in PCs.
With the new chip, dubbed 3CI, ''Cirrus Logic is well
positioned to support the performance-driven and cost-sensitive
hard-disk drive market,'' said Xavier Pucel, an analyst at market-
research firm Dataquest, in San Jose, California. Dataquest
expects the market for hard drives in desktop PCs to grow to 173
million units by 2002 from 101 million in 1998.
Single chips that combine the functions of many chips are
becoming more popular because they cut costs for chipmakers'
customers. Disk-drive makers including industry leader Seagate
Technology Inc. have been losing money because of weak demand and
falling prices for their products, forcing them to cut costs.
Cirrus, based in Fremont, California, was an early leader in
designing semiconductors required for communications among
personal computers, disk drives and local-area networks. It was
one of the largest makers of graphics and sound chips until Intel
Corp. started building those functions into the microprocessor,
the chip that is the brains of the PC.
After losing money for two years, Cirrus Logic returned to
profitability in the fiscal year ended March 28. It reported net
income of $36.5 million, or 52 cents a diluted share, compared
with a loss of $46.2 million, or 71 cents, in the year-earlier
period. |
