More on Cyrix:
May 5, 1999
Nat Semi to Exit PC Chip Business,
Shifting Focus to Appliance Market
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- National Semiconductor Corp. is dumping its personal-computer microprocessor business, just a year and a half after its acquisition of PC chip maker Cyrix.
As part of the move, Nat Semi said it expects to take a fourth-quarter charge between $250
million and $300 million and eliminate 550 jobs. The job cuts include 165 positions in
Singapore announced in April.
"We will immediately cease slugging it out in the PCprocessor market, which has been dragging down our financial performance for several quarters," said Brian L. Halla, chairman of Nat Semi. Nat Semi didn't say whether it was seeking a buyer for the PC-chip operations.
Instead, the company will focus on the market for
so-called information appliances, such as set-top boxesand Internet devices.
The PC chip operations had weighed heavily on NatSemi's bottom line. In March, Nat Semi posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the quarter ended Feb. 28,but said vicious price competition from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. had resulted in lower sequential sales of Cyrix chips.
The company said it will retain its integrated processor line, including Cyrix MediaGX. The
company said it will also continue to supply silicon to the personal computer motherboard market.
As a result of the restructuring, Nat Semi expects to return to profitability in its fiscal 2000 second quarter, ending Nov. 28, 1999. |
