IDT Sees Brighter 1999
techweb.com
After struggling along with other chip makers through
the semiconductor industry's latest downward cycle,
Integrated Device Technology's outlook for 1999 is
much brighter, according to the Santa Clara,
Calif.-based, company's top executive.
"With any kind of decent economy in 1999, IDT should
be in a good position to make money,
quarter-over-quarter, throughout the year," said Len
Perham, IDT's president and CEO.
Pitching his company to a group of investors gathered at
Needham & Co.'s Growth Conference in New York
Wednesday, Perham listed IDT's continuing shift in
focus from SRAMs to the rapidly growing
communications market, the growing strength of its
Centaur Technology subsidiary's WinChip
microprocessors, and the company's pending
acquisition of Quality Semiconductor among the
reasons IDT is a good stock pick.
Noting that IDT's current percentage of sales to the
communications market has risen to about 65 percent
from about 35 percent in 1996, Perham told investors
the company is focusing its R&D efforts on that market
to lock in on its tremendous revenue potential.
Throughout the year, the company expects to introduce
several new products designed specifically for the
communications market, Perham said.
In November, IDT announced that it had agreed to
acquire Quality Semiconductor, also based in Santa
Clara. Quality Semiconductor designs and manufactures
high-performance logic and networking semiconductor
products aimed at the networking, PC, and workstation
markets.
That acquisition, which will be completed through a
stock swap will round out IDT's product line and
provide the company with additional IP that can be
used in its other market areas, Perham said.
"The Quality Semiconductor acquisition should be
completed by the end of the current quarter or the
beginning of the next quarter," Perham said.
IDT also expects to see growth in the PC
microprocessor arena. Through its Centaur subsidiary,
IDT has been participating in the market for low-end
microprocessors with its WinChip line.
Over the past two quarters, Centaur sold out its original
WinChip, WinChip 2, and WinChip 2 3-D
semiconductors. "And we think we are going to enjoy
that condition this quarter also," Perham said.
Additionally, the company is currently manufacturing a
WinChip 3, which operates in the 300-MHz range, and
plans in about a year-and-a-half to roll out a WinChip
4, which will operate at 400 MHz to 600 MHz and has
an 11-stage "super-pipeline" cache, Perham said.
Because of their higher specs, those chips, which will be
manufactured through a foundry agreement with IBM
Microelectronics, could be a real boon for IDT, if they
catch on, Perham said.
"If the WinChip 4 hits, it's going to be a very big
processor for us," he said. "It's going to appeal to a
whole new customer base." |
