Chipmaker Fairchild Semiconductor is now bigger and more profitable than at
any time in the company’s 40-year roller-coaster history. Silicon Valley’s
original chipmaker, now re-located in the East-Coast State of Maine, announced
that its sales skyrocketed to $401.7 million in the first quarter.
That represents a 127 per cent jump from the same period a year ago. Profits
reached $52.6 million, 237 per cent higher than net income of $15.6 million in
the same quarter last year. Sales and profits benefited from the strong demand
for communications ICs as well as power devices, which Fairchild acquired from
Samsung Electronics in April 1999.
"Our successful penetration into high growth market segments such as
cellular phones and base stations, Internet infrastructure, and switching and
transmission equipment accelerated our growth in what is usually a seasonally
soft quarter for the industry," said Fairchild Semiconductor chairman,
president and CEO Kirk Pond. "For example, our sales to our largest
communications equipment manufacturers grew over 100 per cent compared to first
quarter of 1999, reflecting our increased new product design wins. About 65 per
cent of these communications sales were into wireless applications during the
first quarter, up from about 35 per cent a year ago."
Fairchild’s revenues increased in all major segments. Strong sales of power
MOSFET products led discrete revenues up 21per cent sequentially, and were up 65
per cent over the first quarter in 1999. Interface and Logic revenues rose 6 per
cent sequentially, and grew 32 per cent. Analog revenues hampered slightly by a
slowdown in PC segment orders early in the quarter, were up 5 per cent
sequentially, and up 55 per cent over the first quarter 1999.