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Fairchild has record quarter

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CIOL Bureau
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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.

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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.

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