Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (624)	8/6/1999 12:14:00 PM
From: engineer	Respond to of 13582

Motorola Sells Off Chip Supplier Associated Press Online - August 06, 1999 10:19 By AMANDA RIDDLE Associated Press Writer PHOENIX (AP) - In an effort to concentrate on the high-tech side of the semiconductor industry, Motorola Inc. sold a leading supplier of chips for everything from phones to computers. Texas Pacific Group, based in Fort Worth and San Francisco, bought ON Semiconductor, the new company created from the split, for $1.6 billion. The division had $1.5 billion in sales last year. The deal announced Thursday is the largest selloff in Motorola's history, though the Schaumburg, Ill., company will continue to own a 10 percent stake in the new company, said ON spokesman Randy Frank. Motorola spokesman Chuck Granieri said the split will allow the communications equipment maker to focus on its remaining semiconductor division, responsible for advanced technology, including complex circuits for engine control systems in automobiles. "We hope to grow that remaining portion of the business and become strong leaders in the high-tech systems industry," Granieri said. The new company produces low-cost, high-volume semiconductors rather than more advanced semiconductor products, said Frank Hanson, president of ON Semiconductor. "We are really the Home Depot of the electronic world," Hanson said. "The nails, the glue and the light switches that are all necessary to make a system work." Frank said Motorola and what is now ON Semiconductor began selloff discussions more than a year ago because of different goals. "If you look at their kind of business, their semiconductors take a long design-time frame," Frank said. "Our products can be designed reasonably quickly and designed into the system very quickly." The Phoenix-based company manufactures 17,000 different components that provide power and interface for computers, cellular communications, automobiles and household appliances. It is a leading supplier of analog, logic and discrete semiconductor components. On has 14,000 employees in 14 worldwide manufacturing facilities, including 2,700 in the Phoenix area. By next year, ON Semiconductor will be operating a research and development center in Phoenix with plans to hire about 200 people, Frank said.