Motorola Inc, the No. 2 maker of mobile phones, said it received more orders for semiconductors than revenue this month, a sign the business may be reversing its decline this year.
The July book-to-bill ratio was greater than one, said Fred Shlapak, president of Motorola's chip business, during a question-and-answer session at the company's annual meeting for analysts and investors in Rosemont, Illinois, not far from the company's headquarters.
That means Motorola booked more than US$1 in orders for every US$1 in revenue. The ratio in June was 0.9, he said.
Shlapak said three weeks ago that semiconductor sales industry-wide will begin to rebound in the second half as customers deplete a glut of inventory.
The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company had a first-half pretax loss of US$805 million in the semiconductor business as sales dropped 30 percent to US$2.73 billion. Customers include Cisco Systems Inc and Nokia Oyj.
"Anything that's showing that that business is nearing a bottom is a clear positive," said Matthew Hoffman, an analyst at Wit SoundView who has a "buy" rating on the stock.
Motorola shares fell US$0.34 to US$18.69. They've dropped 44 percent in the past year and are trading at a level the stock first reached in 1994.
Before Shlapak spoke, chief executive Christopher Galvin and president Robert Growney opened the meeting by vowing to improve sales and profit.
"There has been a lack of equity growth in Motorola over the last three to five years," Galvin said.
"The issue has been largely us."
Growney didn't change Motorola's July 12 forecast that third-quarter sales will rise 5 percent from the second quarter, with a loss of "several cents per share" that's narrower than in the prior period.
Fourth-quarter revenue will rise another 5 percent, and the company will be "slightly profitable."
The targets exclude items such as acquisition costs and severance charges.
Although Growney declined to set financial targets for 2002, executives in some individual businesses made predictions during their presentations at the meeting, held at the Westin O'Hare hotel.
David Robinson, president of the broadband communications business, said revenue in his unit will rise about 10 percent next year.
Such sales of cable set-top boxes and cable modems increased 13 percent to US$1.64 billion in the first half, though will fall in the third quarter from the second quarter.
Dan Artusi, general manager of Motorola's business that makes chips for computer and cellular-networking equipment, said sales in that division will fall 42 percent to US$1.5 billion this year and will rebound to US$3 billion within three years.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft