Freescale to quit handset chip business
Following a strategic review of its business, Freescale is looking for ways to exit the wireless chipset arena. According to the company, it is exploring ‘a sale, joint venture or other transformation’.
Rich Beyer, pictured, Freescale’s chairman and ceo, claimed: “As the semiconductor market continues to consolidate, it is essential that we maximise our investment on growth opportunities that enable us to extend our market leadership and to ultimately create shareholder value.
“In the cellular handset chipset market, it has become evident that this business needs considerably greater scale in order to achieve a position of market leadership and long term success. We feel the investment required to achieve that scale by Freescale will be better served extending our product portfolios where we are the leader and expanding our application expertise in sensors, analogue, power and multimedia processing.”
Backing that view, Freescale is increasing its investment in the automotive and networking markets as well as increasing its efforts in the industrial and consumer markets.
