News & Analysis
Freescale's new CEO targets market share growth
Dylan McGrath
6/20/2012 2:11 AM EDT
SAN ANTONIO—When Gregg Lowe, Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s president and CEO, took the microphone to deliver the keynote address at perhaps his company's most important annual event Tuesday (June 19), he was in the early stages of his 14th day on the job.
Later, when asked a question about Freescale's strengths and weaknesses, Lowe freely acknowledged he was unqualified to answer, owing to his brief stint on the job thus far.
But Lowe—who was named to Freescale's top job June 5—made one thing clear above all others. He stated several times that his primary mission is to improve Freescale's market share, growing the company faster than the overall semiconductor industry.
"I don't know that I can point to a single weakness after 13 days," Lowe said. "What I would tell you is that the employees of this company feel they know they have the skills and the capabilities to do a better job of growing the company and gaining market share."
Greg Lowe, Freescale Semiconductor's president and CEO, speaks at the Freescale Technology Forum Tuesday.
Lowe acknowledged that he is not yet ready to list in which product areas Freescale has the best opportunities to capture greater market share. He also declined to put a timeline on how long it will take he and the rest of the company's management to agree on a strategy to grow the company's top line.
"I am working on that aggressively," Lowe said. "But I am not going to be impatient. This is a company that has a lot of different things going on. We've got to make the right decisions and choices."
Early on in his keynote address, Lowe, a longtime executive at Texas Instruments Inc., said he was drawn to the Freescale job by what he saw as values that he shared—integrity, openness, a team environment and a desire to win. He added later that he was intrigued by Freescale's solid technical heritage and strong position in a number of markets.
Lowe was appointed Freescale's president and CEO about six weeks after Rich Beyer announced his decision to retire pending a search for a new top executive at the company.
Lowe said he has spent the past 13 days talking to Freescale employees at all levels, from high-ranking executives to random employees in the company cafeteria. "This is a team that is hungry," he said. "This is a team that wants to win. This is a team that has a heritage of winning. And I hope to work together with that team to put us back in that position."
In a meeting with analysts later Tuesday, Lowe was asked about managing Freescale's massive debt load, which stands at more than $6 billion. "The debt is what it is," Lowe said. "It's down from what it's been, so there's been some good progress on that front." Lowe added that the "one lever that hasn't been pulled enough" is to grow the company's top line faster than the overall market.
Asked by an analyst to describe to what degree his compensation was tied to Freescale's success, Lowe largely sidestepped the question. But, he said that he had been asked if he had "skin in the game" previously.
"I feel like I have all of my organs in the game at this point," Lowe said.
Later, when asked a question about Freescale's strengths and weaknesses, Lowe freely acknowledged he was unqualified to answer, owing to his brief stint on the job thus far.
But Lowe—who was named to Freescale's top job June 5—made one thing clear above all others. He stated several times that his primary mission is to improve Freescale's market share, growing the company faster than the overall semiconductor industry.
"I don't know that I can point to a single weakness after 13 days," Lowe said. "What I would tell you is that the employees of this company feel they know they have the skills and the capabilities to do a better job of growing the company and gaining market share."
Greg Lowe, Freescale Semiconductor's president and CEO, speaks at the Freescale Technology Forum Tuesday.
Lowe acknowledged that he is not yet ready to list in which product areas Freescale has the best opportunities to capture greater market share. He also declined to put a timeline on how long it will take he and the rest of the company's management to agree on a strategy to grow the company's top line.
"I am working on that aggressively," Lowe said. "But I am not going to be impatient. This is a company that has a lot of different things going on. We've got to make the right decisions and choices."
Early on in his keynote address, Lowe, a longtime executive at Texas Instruments Inc., said he was drawn to the Freescale job by what he saw as values that he shared—integrity, openness, a team environment and a desire to win. He added later that he was intrigued by Freescale's solid technical heritage and strong position in a number of markets.
Lowe was appointed Freescale's president and CEO about six weeks after Rich Beyer announced his decision to retire pending a search for a new top executive at the company.
Lowe said he has spent the past 13 days talking to Freescale employees at all levels, from high-ranking executives to random employees in the company cafeteria. "This is a team that is hungry," he said. "This is a team that wants to win. This is a team that has a heritage of winning. And I hope to work together with that team to put us back in that position."
In a meeting with analysts later Tuesday, Lowe was asked about managing Freescale's massive debt load, which stands at more than $6 billion. "The debt is what it is," Lowe said. "It's down from what it's been, so there's been some good progress on that front." Lowe added that the "one lever that hasn't been pulled enough" is to grow the company's top line faster than the overall market.
Asked by an analyst to describe to what degree his compensation was tied to Freescale's success, Lowe largely sidestepped the question. But, he said that he had been asked if he had "skin in the game" previously.
"I feel like I have all of my organs in the game at this point," Lowe said.
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elctrnx_lyf
6/20/2012 8:08 AM EDT
All the best to Greg. Hope to see more positive numbers from Freescale.
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GREAT-Terry
6/20/2012 10:24 AM EDT
Is gaining market share the best direction to Freescale? Gaining market share is always the goal of TI however. So, I wonder if Freescale is on the right track if they just want to copy the business model of TI? I believe it is not easy to success as gaining market share usually means loss of profit margin. With such high debt, is this strategy still attractive to investor?
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dylan.mcgrath
6/20/2012 11:25 AM EDT
Lowe made it pretty clear that Freescale won't be slashing its margins to gain share. He feels that the company's technology and products warrant a stronger position.
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junko.yoshida
6/20/2012 12:50 PM EDT
"I feel like I have all of my organs in the game at this point." Geez, that's a good quote.
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Mark Fortunato
6/20/2012 2:56 PM EDT
As an ex-TI analog person, I suspect Lowe can turn this ship around.
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goafrit
6/20/2012 10:37 PM EDT
We hope so for him and others that need his help to keep their jobs. But it will not be easy because most of the factors are not within his control. China is emerging a threat and that is a concern for a small player like Freescale
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Mark Fortunato
6/20/2012 2:57 PM EDT
"...said he was drawn to the Freescale job by what he saw as values that he shared—integrity, openness, a team environment..."
Could this be a dig at TI for lacking these values? Ask anyone from TI who has left in the past couple years and anyone still there who is not afraid to speak the truth.
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dylan.mcgrath
6/20/2012 3:23 PM EDT
Lowe went to great lengths to avoid commenting on TI for the most part. He was asked several times to compare or contrast the two companies. Most of the time he started by reframing the question to focus only on Freescale. He didn't want to talk much about TI, as you would expect. Once, though, he did discuss the values that he saw at Freescale and those at TI, which he said were very similar. "They are both great companies," he said.
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Mark Fortunato
6/20/2012 3:29 PM EDT
Dylan, If Lowe is anything, he is a gentleman. He would not publicly say anything bad about TI. It would be interesting for someone in the EE press. In my experience, and that of many of my former colleagues there, integrity, openness and team enviroment are values that they dumped a couple years ago.
BTW, his first name is spelled Gregg, not Greg.
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dylan.mcgrath
6/20/2012 5:29 PM EDT
thanks analogician. Thanks also for pointing out that we were short one "g." It's been corrected.
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Mark Fortunato
6/20/2012 3:30 PM EDT
oops. it would be interesting if someone in the EE press would talk to people about how TI has gone aobut thinning the herd in the last couple years. And I mean those who get "thinned" and those who worked with them - not the executives.
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Simon7382
6/20/2012 5:38 PM EDT
All Lowe said was motherhood and apple pie. Of course having been 2 weeks on the job this was to be expected. What I do not see though: what is newsworthy here at all.
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dylan.mcgrath
6/21/2012 12:21 AM EDT
@Simon7382- thanks for weighing in. In my opinion, the first public comments of one of the world's largest chip vendors are newsworthy. But to each his own. Cheers.
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goafrit
6/20/2012 10:36 PM EDT
I wish him good luck. Freescale needs to be set FREE to actually grow. But just as Nokia boss has figured out, it goes beyond talking!
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ChipBuilder
6/21/2012 1:07 AM EDT
Wow, who would have thunk it, increase market share, yup that's why they get the big bucks. He was brave to speak this early, but this is clearly a meaningless platitude.
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daleste
6/21/2012 10:16 PM EDT
Yes, the same mantra he had at TI. The monthly meetings we focused on market share. I expect him to do the same at Freescale. The problem at TI was that most of the market share gains were through acquisitions. I don't think he can do that at Freescale.
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t.alex
6/23/2012 8:23 AM EDT
Its gonna me tough. What is the strength of Freescale? Automotive if i am not wrong.
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daleste
6/23/2012 12:59 PM EDT
Yes, Automotive is their strength, but also microcontollers to the general market.
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t.alex
6/24/2012 9:05 AM EDT
There are too many vendors for microcontrers. It's hard to be competitive long enough.
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