NatSemi's IA strategy paying off

The window of opportunity National Semiconductor opened for itself last year with information appliances (IA) appears to be paying off, the company said today, following the release of financial figures that showed it made a profit in its third quarter. The company turned in net profits of $327.8 million on turnover of $548.9 million, compared to a loss of $27.2 million for the same quarter last year. While most of NatSemi's increased revenue came from analogue devices used in mobile phones, its CEO Brian Halla said the figures represented a general turnaround in the semiconductor market. He also said that sales of its Geode "system on a chip" grew by 11 per cent in the quarter. Halla described the quarter as "excellent", and the company pointed out that this part of the year is generally weak in the chip sector. Last year, senior executives at the firm told The Register that its restructuring, including its decision to rid itself of Cyrix and its decision to rush to market with its Geode chip would give it a window of opportunity to beat its competition to market with a system on a chip device. The Geode integrates a large number of chip functions and also includes x86 compatibility. The company predicted that its sales could rise by as much as 25 per cent in its next financial year, while the next quarter's sales could grow by eight per cent. The company's share price (ticker: NSM) closed down at $79 after some profit taking activity. In April last year, its share price had sunk to just under $9. ® See also NatSemi says Transmeta, Intel no threat to Geode Acer goes NatSemi Geode mad Big Blue uses NatSemi Geode in NetStation NatSemi rolls out Information Appliance chip NatSemi starts to fab System on a Chip