National Semiconductor Corp has announced its intention to focus its resources in what it believes are three growing markets, moving away from its previous attempts to provide products for the entire computer market. To accompany the changes, it is launching a new logo at the end of the month to mark its changing direction. From […]
National Semiconductor Corp has announced its intention to focus its resources in what it believes are three growing markets, moving away from its previous attempts to provide products for the entire computer market. To accompany the changes, it is launching a new logo at the end of the month to mark its changing direction. From now on, it will concentrate on communications applications, either externally or internally; mixed signal processing; and personal systems. Santa Clara, California-based NatSemi believes that growth in the former two markets will outstrip that in the more conventional processor and storage markets, with the convergence between computers and communications opening up huge opportunities. It believes that the market for local area network products will be worth $11,000m by the end of the century and the local network server and software market will continue to grow. Multimedia-capable personal computers are expected to be worth $50,000m world-wide. European sales director Roland Andersson says the company has chosen markets in which it already had expertise to exploit but which its rivals or new comers could not match. It’s not just a question of capital; it’s about know-how and the mix needed. He adds that the change is a move from being a wide-ranging player to focusing its research and development money and working with key partners. We’ve got the finances to pull it off; we’ve had healthy quarters for years. This year’s figures showed net profit of $264m, a 102.6% increase. One area that will be particulalrly important to the company will be networking, especially isochronous Ethernet, where it believes it will be able to improve services to customers in voice, data and video communications. Building on the existing Ethernet infrastructure, NatSemi is working with national telecommunication companies and Novell Inc to provide high quality services in this field for companies already using Ethernet. Andersson says the company will be strengthening its alliances with other companies such as L M Ericsson Telefon AB; NEC Corp with which it is working on networking; IBM Corp, and Matsushita Industrial Electrical Co. To achieve this change, National Semiconductor has opened new European headquarters in Munich, Bavaria, where it has consolidated its activities.
