Philips Semiconductors to be renamed NXP

BANGALORE: Philips Electronics’ chip unit that was hived off from the parent company earlier this year would be christened NXP Semiconductors India. Following this global development, the Indian subsidiary that was spun off as Philips Semiconductors India would be renamed in October as NXP Semiconductors India.

The name change and new brand identity came about in an agreement made in August 2006 between Royal Philips and a consortium of private equity firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co, Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Pax Partners and AlpInvest Partners, that will together take up 80.1 per cent stake in the company’s semiconductor business valued at Euro 8.3 billion. Philips will retain the remaining 19.9 per cent stake of the semiconductor business.

The new name NXP is an acronym that stands for Next Experience and the brand promise of “Vibrant Media technologies,” say Philips executives.

“The semiconductor business is cyclical, volatile and a scale-driven business that needs to find its future. The buy-out is the largest valuation for a business of this size,” said K Ramachandran, CEO, Philips Electronics India Ltd.

This global move will bring about changes in Philips’ existing presence in India. Around 50 employees from the company’s semi-conductor vertical and 650 employees including engineers and the sales and marketing personnel working with the semiconductor vertical of Philips’ Innovation campus in Bangalore would now be part of NXP. NXP would have its own campus at Hebbal in Bangalore where an investment of Euro five million has already been committed this year. “This will make NXP India’s fourth largest semiconductor employer and the company’s third biggest center,” said Rajeev Mehtani, MD, NXP Semiconductors India.

NXP India will offer solutions and technologies for automotive, identification, digital home and MFD segments.

He said that The Asian market including greater China and India accounted for 66 per cent of the company’s sales representing the largest market for the company. While the sales growth in India is faster than China, the semiconductor segment in India accounts for only one per cent of the global market. Philips is the number one television chip supplier in India.

NXP’s net sales last year was Euro 4.77 billion and is expected to touch Euro six billion next fiscal.

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