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eetimes_#2
It looks like both TI and and ST have made the same flawed move. The ...
collin
TI cuts 1,700 jobs in OMAP shift
Dylan McGrath
11/14/2012 6:50 PM EST
No buyers
Though rumors had surfaced that Amazon—which uses OMAP in its Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD tablets—was in discussions to acquire the division, Strauss said the motivation for any vendor to buy OMAP just wasn't there.
"What could TI offer that others don't have? OMAP is just one of several solutions for applications processsors. There are other alternatives," Strauss said. Though he added that OMAP had a bigger slice of the market than competitors in smartphones and tablets.
TI did not provide a specific breakdown of the job cuts. The company said it expects the cuts to save the company about $450 million per year, beginning at the end of 2013. The company said it expects to take charges as the result of the cuts of about $325 million in the fourth quarter.
"These job reductions are something we do with a heavy heart because they impact people we care deeply about," said Greg Delagi, senior vice president of embedded processing at TI, in a statement. Delagi said TI would provide the affected employees with a range of assistance related to compensation, benefits and job search."
Delagi also reiterated that TI has a great opportunity to reshape its OMAP processor and wireless connectivity product lines to concentrate on embedded markets. "Momentum is already building with new embedded applications and a broad set of customers, and we are accelerating our efforts in these areas," he said.
Related stories:
Though rumors had surfaced that Amazon—which uses OMAP in its Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD tablets—was in discussions to acquire the division, Strauss said the motivation for any vendor to buy OMAP just wasn't there.
"What could TI offer that others don't have? OMAP is just one of several solutions for applications processsors. There are other alternatives," Strauss said. Though he added that OMAP had a bigger slice of the market than competitors in smartphones and tablets.
TI did not provide a specific breakdown of the job cuts. The company said it expects the cuts to save the company about $450 million per year, beginning at the end of 2013. The company said it expects to take charges as the result of the cuts of about $325 million in the fourth quarter.
"These job reductions are something we do with a heavy heart because they impact people we care deeply about," said Greg Delagi, senior vice president of embedded processing at TI, in a statement. Delagi said TI would provide the affected employees with a range of assistance related to compensation, benefits and job search."
Delagi also reiterated that TI has a great opportunity to reshape its OMAP processor and wireless connectivity product lines to concentrate on embedded markets. "Momentum is already building with new embedded applications and a broad set of customers, and we are accelerating our efforts in these areas," he said.
Related stories:
- TI steering OMAP to embedded
- Why OMAP can't compete in smartphones
- Does Amazon want TI's OMAP?
- TI SoCs target ‘purpose-built’ ARM servers
- Qualcomm, Globalfoundries gain in chip sales rankings
- TI chips said to simplify wireless charging
- Apple, Amazon squeeze costs out of latest tablets
- TI expands DLP technology into medical apps
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help.fulguy
11/14/2012 7:00 PM EST
ARM brings commoditization which will lead to job Loss. Here is the proof. ARM is bad news to USA.
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bordersboy
11/19/2012 11:36 AM EST
Semis is global, bullsh*t statements send them back do no help. TI make most of their stuff in Taiwan and other Asian countries, to remain competative. tjey where one of the first licencees of Arm.
Secret of success is innovation and margin, AP provide neither. The move is sound, the number is surprising but its fitting the workforce to the on going business
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sprite0022
11/14/2012 7:27 PM EST
ok, TI has lost it's mojo, it's becoming next motorola, great tradition, so what?
another low IQ saleman CEO, can only cut and run instead of stay and fight.
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yalanand
11/15/2012 10:05 PM EST
@sprite, TI becoming next motorola, that would be exaggerating facts. TI's other businesses are doing pretty good, its just that they are getting out of wireless because they think they can do well in other domains like Analog which is the core strength of TI. If you remember TI has retained all its analog fabs.
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sprite0022
11/15/2012 10:11 PM EST
yeah, yeah,
just like kodak, it's all cool,
it's still keeping it's core printing business.
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yalanand
11/16/2012 10:12 PM EST
@sprite0022, kodak business is totally different from semiconductor business. Semiconductor is very huge market. It includes wireless, it includes MCU, it includes embedded. Failure in one domain will not impact the revenue stream.
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jmrowca
11/14/2012 8:54 PM EST
Rich Templeton needs to retire to help save some jobs.
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yalanand
11/15/2012 10:04 PM EST
@jmrowca, I dont think Rich has any role to play in this decision of TI. What will you do with an entitiy which is making loss year after year. Samsung has started building its own processors, Apple is also trying new vendors for its processors so TI has not major customers left in wireless wing.
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shub
11/16/2012 1:41 AM EST
Please check facts TI Wireless revenue in 2006 = 4.35B after that they never invested in it and all other compition did so they where overthrown.This was clearly written on wall from 2007, only people who called fooled where i think WS.
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yalanand
11/16/2012 10:15 PM EST
@shub, may be you are right. This is failure on part of TI that it didn't invest wisely in 2007. But you can't undo things which you did earlier. All I am saying is in this current environment TI has taken the correct decision.
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eewiz
11/14/2012 10:01 PM EST
TI lost the fighting spirit. Instead of fighting in wireless, they stopped the development. Now they stop OMAP coz of wireless.
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yalanand
11/15/2012 10:02 PM EST
@eewiz, I dont think TI lost the fighting spirit. Its just TI's new strategy. Infact this is smart move by TI because they want to get out of loss making business. Fact of the matter is margins in wireless domain has fallen drastically and thus TI wants to concentrate purely on Analog and embedded side.
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eewiz
11/15/2012 10:20 PM EST
If there are very high margins to be made anywhere, that will naturally attract a lot of competition and the margins will be marginal over time. So if we are to get out of any business because of low margins, there will be no business TI can do. The solution is to is keep innovating, not getting out. NVdia, who even doesnt have the same kinda history in App processors as TI, has succesful TEGRA line. now what is TI doing??????
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yalanand
11/16/2012 10:16 PM EST
@eewiz, yes I agree with your point. But the point is TI wants to concentrate on Analog side which is its core strength and I dont think you have enough companies competition in Analog domain.
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sprite0022
11/15/2012 3:42 AM EST
it's hard to imagine a marketing ppl with a business degree, ok maybe a mba, how can he guide a tech company to compete.
I just watched another salesman turned coo's address, it's pretty much bullsh t.
all he know is cost saving,
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bobbytsai
11/15/2012 10:53 AM EST
APs are now low margin commodities, better to focus capital and resources om something that will return net margins. analog, mixed-signal, power management, custom embedded ARM with mixed signal and NV memory. Why stay in a market and drag down overall margins? Need to find markets where they can innovate and differentiate.
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Stanley_
11/15/2012 11:14 AM EST
"TI can't keep up with because it began phasing out its baseband technology years ago"... They shoot their feet, and now blame wounded feet to cut leg.. they may kill themselves oneday blaming not having leg.
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yalanand
11/15/2012 10:10 PM EST
@Stanley, lets not be too pessimistic about TI. TI acquired National recently. I think this is one more reason why we are seeing this layoffs because they would like to trim the employee number to reduce the costs. This is just TI side layoffs, we haven't heard how many people from National were removed from the job when the merger happened.
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eewiz
11/16/2012 3:54 AM EST
@Stanley
exactly. all the "high margin" analog mixed signal components will be integrated into an app processor sooner or later. Then TI will have no option other than to shoot themselves.
@yalanand
National acquisition has nothing to do with OMAP closing down. OMAP is not overlapping with any of National's product line. Again who's pessimistic abt what? IMO its TI whos pessimistic about their ability to compete.
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yalanand
11/16/2012 10:18 PM EST
@eewiz, my point is there is lot of redundancy in work force because of TI-National merger. For example insted of 1x not TI has 2X designers and it would be hard to maintain the extra workforce when there is slow down.
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richarddgary
11/15/2012 11:26 AM EST
Competitiveness is not the sole responsibility of a specific technology but should be ingrained as a corporate culture. A rare thing to be maintained over the life of an 'old' tech co. like Moto/TI. GE is one of the few cos. the exude this- but then again look what Jack Welch built!
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KUMAR.BHATIA
11/15/2012 11:30 AM EST
This comes as a surprise ? Not. When the attitude was to demand a virgin, cure for cancer, mobile account or first born - (take your pick from the multiple choice) before one could be "privileged" to work with OMAP - potential accounts were turned off. Stop begging the big wigs to work with you and support those that do.
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help.fulguy
11/15/2012 12:04 PM EST
This is what happens when there is vanilla designs based on ARM....no differentiation, means You Die. Period. Next one is Freescale, then Marvell, then broadcom, and on and on. ARM means loss of jobs. Send ARM back to UK. They can live with their Austerity over there
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sprite0022
11/15/2012 9:20 PM EST
why u have to die if there is no differentiation? lol,
can't americans live like a normal human being?
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HS_SemiPro
11/16/2012 1:11 AM EST
Can't blame ARM, if custom design cannot beat Generic ARM designs
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przemek
11/15/2012 2:47 PM EST
Technology means loss of jobs? Let's go back to hand weaving, there will be jobs for everyone!
I think that the problem here was TI's traditional position that DSP is the important part, and the general purpose CPU is just a control/management bag on the side. The Stellaris and MSP430 lines where they just do the standard SoC seem to be selling well.
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C VanDorne
11/15/2012 4:58 PM EST
That's their embedded stuff, no? Thus change in tact for their broader CPU product line.
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yalanand
11/15/2012 10:13 PM EST
trend TI can't keep up with because it began phasing out its baseband technology years ago.
@Dylan, thanks for the post. Is it very difficult for TI to review its baseband technology ? Why did TI phase out its baseband technology ?
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sprite0022
11/15/2012 10:49 PM EST
@ yalanand, r u TI CEO's PR or sth?
anyway, this is a MAJOR failure for ti!!!
nb can deny it.
a project failed to take off due to planning, excution failure.
next time if TI want to hire someone, it better write in it's ads: this is a contract position, might gone in 1-2 years, better rent an apt, don't buy expensive cars...
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yalanand
11/16/2012 10:22 PM EST
@sprite0022, :). I am neither PR nor sth, I am a VLSI engineer. I totally agree with you that its a failure on part of TI nobody can deny it but I believe TI has done the right thing by exiting the market where margins are hard to comeby.
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joyhaa
11/15/2012 11:57 PM EST
TI quits OMAP , TI left baseband a while ago...
Nvidia is doing Tegra well, is trying hard to integrate baseband into it.
yes it's a tough fight, so TI just quit and ran, while others, including many other companies, are fighting for this very same market?
No CEO is going to call this a loser attitude, they always call it a strategic move, for long term growth, blahblah
So long Texas-India(TI)
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arunashokan
11/16/2012 8:26 AM EST
I might not be the one under the axe (as a TI employee) but they had to cope with the probability of losing out on a market without the baseband business they phased out. There is no fighting in a world when you do not have the right weapons/tools. TI rather do well in an arena where we not only have the right weapons but in which currently we are the strongest. Is this a dangerous move to play just with a few cards: SURELY but having made its decision on dropping baseband a few years ago, coping in a world where integration of the applications processor and baseband processor is going to happen was/is going to be difficult. Tough on everyone involved but in the context required. Losing a cancered limb to save the body.
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Frank Eory
11/16/2012 4:54 PM EST
If you're going to be in the wireless business, it's all about the modem. Having given up on the modem years ago, this was as inevitable as water flowing downhill.
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corgan
11/17/2012 1:29 AM EST
TI OMAP, R.I.P
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Ciol
11/18/2012 12:25 PM EST
TI leads when TI teams up with industry leader. TI won in Wirelles when we (i was TI in the era of TJE and GDEL) got design-in at Nokia at the time when Nokia was potentialy a rising star. When industry leadership moved away from Modem/Nokia towards aps (to finaly end up at Aple) TI was not there anymore to take risk, to cointinue winning new design, to maintain a pioneer winning fighting spirit, to team up with the new rising leaders.
Then TI reorganized, cut costs, gave up design-in, innovation, risks, investments, Modem design and last but not least IC fabrication.... in my view TI then became a mee-too simply capitalizing on "reuse/implementation" of ARM with DSP OMAP short term non sustainable advance.... One key point is fabrication of advanced technology that moved away from traditionnal SC manufacturing including TI toward global foundries. In the Wireles times TI was winning because TI was leading technology process ahead of competitors (full technolopgy entitlement was the slogan). This competitive advantage is definitively gone, wether TI continues OMAP or not wether TI had continued Modem or not.
So yes i agree TI is missing his former courageous leaders and their challenging startegies , but,let us be fair, TI is also missing technology leadership which is gone for ever.
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sprite0022
11/18/2012 7:18 PM EST
a salesman CEO is doomed,
just like otellini co. with the ultrabook joke.
their brain is full of $ signs instead of tech.
this is just part of healthy cycle of mother nature. make ppl humble and re energized...
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11/19/2012 3:50 AM EST
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Neo1
11/19/2012 10:17 PM EST
TI has been on the back foot for quite some time now and may be they didn't feel so comfortable in the digital platform market which is increasingly driven by cost. So good they are moving away to grow elsewhere which is not a bad move overall.
It's difficult for companies to survive in multiple domains when the economy is in a spiral and they may endanger their core business if they are too stubborn to see the reality.
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Stanley_
11/20/2012 1:03 PM EST
mobile is rapidly growing area, and mobile processor is at the heart. I'm not sure what else TI has to focus. It's meaningless to look back, but
1. what if TI keep working on modem technology and fight for LTE and try to integrate with OMAP?
2. what if TI keep having digital manufacturing in-house?
TI could have been only company making integrated high performance MP/modem in IDM environment now..
Engineer CEO could have seen this trend, unfortunately sales CEO couldn't...
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collin
11/21/2012 10:06 AM EST
Embedded world.
Hot,Hot,Very Hot!!!!!!!!!
As I know, many big companies enter into it.
Expect TI make new high performance embedded processor soon.
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eetimes_#2
3/20/2013 3:38 AM EDT
It looks like both TI and and ST have made the same flawed move. The Samsung/Apple duopoly is coming to and end as Sony/Motorola/HTC make better products (IMO). These companies need a strong competitor to Qualcomm. Following the breakup of ST-Ericsson a TI CEO with any balls would pick up where ST left off and get into bed with Ericsson, undoing it's silly exit from mobile basebands a few years ago.
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