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Mar 25 2008 11:57AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (4) |
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Freescale Semiconductor is looking for a new, major 3G customer for its handset chips by the end of 2008, according to a report out of Taipei today.

This is not big surprise. Freescale, which spun out of Motorola in 2004, claims Moto as its biggest wireless customer. And as has been well publicized, Moto’s mobile devices business is far from stellar right now. The company’s division lost its spark after releasing the Razr and has since fallen to third place in mobile device shipment rankings after shipping nearly 60k less handsets in 2007 compared to 2006. It’s so bad over at Moto mobile devices that Greg Brown announced less than a month after he took the Moto CEO seat that the company was thinking of spinning off the once high-flying unit. Carl Icahn, Moto’s second largest shareholder, has called for changes in company management based in large part of the business’ decline.

In a recent interview with Electronic News, Freescale CTO Lisa Su alluded to the situation at Moto, saying that the wireless market is a “good market” and that it continues to be a place where Freescale is “working on diversifying our customer portfolio. We continue to work with Motorola, but we are also looking at engaging with other large wireless customers.”

Wireless is a good opportunity for Freescale and the report out today suggest that it may be chasing number 1 mobile phone maker Nokia as its major customer win in 2008, but the handset market is very fickle. Research from Strategy Analytics shows that global mobile phone shipments grew a modest 12% year over year in 2007, to reach 1.12 billion units. That growth, while still expected to be double-digit in 2008, will slow to 10%, the firm has projected, in part on the economic environment.

Overall, analog seems to be the place to be right now. Databeans this week released research stating that worldwide analog revenue is expected to increase to just more than $40 billion in 2008 and grow to more than $69 billion in 2013 for a five year compound annual growth rate of 11%. The growth is coming from continued demand for wireless products, as well as healthy revenue growth for analog power products, according to the market research company, which said that together these segments accounted for more than 40% of the entire 2007 analog market.

Freescale is number eight in overall analog revenue with 4.2% market share, according to the Databeans research. American Technology Research has separately suggested that Freescale may climb the analog ranking ladder. The company in February named Intersil’s Rich Beyer as CEO in an apparent move to regain profitability through the analog segment.

Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers this week also upgraded analog, saying in a research note, “We believe that analog has one of the most attractive risk/reward profiles in technology and expect our universe to outperform for the balance of 2008.” The Wall Street watching firm is basing its positive thesis on more profitable operating models that it expects should support higher enterprise value to sales multiples that in several instances are at prior recession lows; limited margin leverage that will help slow earnings velocity in the context of weaker demand; positive order growth should drive flat to modest growth in Q2; consensus estimates in analog that it feels are more credible relative to the major end market OEMs; and expected consolidation on the horizon.

What’s smart about Freescale right now is that it is spreading its wings. It’s looking for a new major mobile customer (although, really, Freescale should have made this a priority for 2007, not 2008); it’s expanding its presence in consumer electronics via it’s networking efforts; it’s hired a analog CEO; and it recognizes that the automotive market, while it is a demanding market, is one that holds great opportunity. Read the Lisa Su Q&A for more on Freescale’s plans. And if you aren’t already familiar with Su, get familiar with her. She’s one of the few high-level execs out there that manages to understand the necessary balance between business and tech innovation.

--Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News