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Technology Stocks : VLSI Technology - Waiting for good news from NASDAQ !!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Trey McAtee who wrote (3579)	6/12/1998 3:56:00 PM
From: Maui Jim	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6565

OK - Looks like WSJ got a jump on Monday's story - It will be covered in financial and technical press all week - This is a major announcement: VLSI Plans To Enter New Market With Chips For CDMA Cellular Phones Dow Jones Online News, Friday, June 12, 1998 NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- VLSI Technology Inc., which makes chips that power cellular phones, televison set-top boxes, networking equipment and other devices, is expected Monday to unveil a chip based on the CDMA, or code division multiple access, format for digital cellular phone systems. Samples of CDMA+, a package of CDMA chips, software and tools, are being distributed ahead of an expected commercial rollout early next year. San Jose, Calif.-based VLSI had focused on the GSM, or global system for mobile communications, a rival format for digital-wireless phones. Potential customers for CDMA+ include all the major cellular-phone manufacturers such as Swedish group Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, Finnish company Oy Nokia, Motorola Inc., Korean conglomerate the Samsung Group and Sony Corp. Several years ago, VLSI decided that CDMA would become a widely used format and licensed the technology from CDMA pioneer Qualcomm Inc. and spent millions to create its own chips. Qualcomm has licensed the technology to other companies and makes its own CDMA chips. And more chip makers are expected to enter the CDMA market in the next three to 12 months, said Wojtek Uzdelewicz, an analyst with Cowen & Co. Until VLSI releases its chips commercially, it will be hard to tell how its entrance into the market will affect Qualcomm. "The issue that everyone runs into is that this is an extremely difficult chipset to introduce," Uzdelewicz said. "It has an extremely difficult design process." In addition to Qualcomm, DSP Communications Inc. also does business in the CDMA market, Uzdelewicz said. VLSI recently outlined plans to broaden its customer base and return to its roots in so-called ASICs, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits. VLSI believes it can bring in more diverse assortments of custom chips, including more components that go into networking boxes, like those developed by its competitor LSI Logic Corp.. Some of the company's strategic shifts are already bearing fruit. The move away from personal computer products has boosted VLSI's gross margin in the past year by decreasing the amount spent on inventory write-downs for PC sales slumps. And the emphasis on communications products has boosted its sales in Europe.