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To: LBstocks who wrote (67617)	2/22/2000 1:49:00 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 152472

Tuesday February 22, 12:32 am Eastern Time Texas Instruments to launch Web access chips NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc.(NYSE:TXN - news), (TI), the world's number one supplier of semiconductor chips used in mobile phones, on Tuesday was set to unveil two new chips designed to enable high-speed Internet access for homes and for use in the next generation of Web-based wireless gadgetry. The two digital signal processors (DSPs), the C64x and the C55x, are at the centre of TI's efforts to boost its dominance of the DSP market, one of the fastest-growing segments of the semiconductor industry. DSPs have projected annual growth rates of 30 percent per year, with expectations the market will grow from $4 billion in 1999 to $13 billion in 2003, driven by the explosive growth of cell phone use and the Internet. The C64x, the fastest DSP to date, is designed to enable huge amounts of data, video and voice to be delivered to homes via traditional telephone lines. Wireless base stations could also use it to send multimedia signals to wireless handsets. The C64x is between 4 and 16 times faster than Texas Instruments' previous generation of DSPs, said Will Strauss, an analyst at DSP market research firm Forward Concepts. TI currently has a 48 percent share of the programmable DSP market, more than its two nearest competitors, Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news) and Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news), combined. ``It could take three years for a well-heeled competitor to get to where TI is now,' he said. ``However, another well-heeled competitor would probably be Intel, which wants to get into the wireless handset business,' said Strauss. Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) announced a joint venture with No. 4 DSP supplier Analogue Devices Inc. (NYSE:ADI - news), a year ago, and is expected to make its own DSP announcement in the Spring. TI's C55x is a low-power chip designed for use in the next generation of cell phones, digital cameras and digital music players, or even devices that combine all three into one, with a constant on-line link to the Internet. The chip uses less power than any other programmable DSP currently on the market, and so would allow batteries in Web devices to last weeks instead of days. Large cellular telephone makers such as Nokia and Ericsson have chosen the C55x for their third generation handsets, the company said. The chips are scheduled to ship in the company's second quarter. ``That's when we'd begin seeing revenue, in Q2,' said TI spokeswoman Gail Chandler. Products using these chips could be available to consumers within a year, the company said. ``With these new DSPs, TI now provides the processing power that will make the broadband pipe to your home bigger and cheaper, and the battery life that can put the Internet in your pocket,' said Tom Engibous, TI's chairman, chief executive and president. Engibous was expected to unveil the new DSPs at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The DSPs are programmable, meaning upgrades can be made via download over the Internet, and are software compatible with TI's previous generation of chips. biz.yahoo.com