Slashdot Mirror
Motorola To Spin Off Chip Division
dafz1 writes "According to an article
at CNET News, Motorola
has announced they will create a new company from their Semiconductor Products
Sector (SPS), which builds chips such as the PowerPC. Reasons cited include 'surrendering to IBM a key role in delivering the PowerPC for Apple Computer's top-of-the-line desktop'. This follows earlier news that Motorola's CEO will step down, citing a 'difference
of opinion' with fellow executives."
Too bad they didn't do this a couple of years ago. We would have been a lot better off. Good to see the executives saw the same thing.
- oZ
// i am here.
The new company at least will give a damn about its chip business -- it's all they've got -- something that Mot itself never did.
Surprised they didn't sell it, but they probably couldn't find any takers.
"Just because we can do something doesn't mean we have to do it," Galvin told an audience of thousands of wireless executives on Monday during his keynote address at the CTIA Wireless 2003 spring convention.
Galvin's comments run counter to what other CEOs had to say in their keynotes. Instead of stressing the voice call, most wireless companies are using the show to introduce even more complex data services such as behind-the-firewall access for mobile workers, or the ability to tap into wireless "hot spots" for high-speed Web connections, as Verizon Wireless announced Monday.
I must say that I agree with Galvin in that they need to improve upon their current service before throwing in additional features. In a way this seems to be a little like M$. Let's throw out a whole bunch of new things and fix it later. I prefer they fix what they have and make it bullet proof and then add new *stuff*. By no means am I endorsing Motorola, I do not follow them at all but I have to agree with him on this topic.
alias dir='rm -rf
Motorola has been having problems with their advanced semiconductor products, particularly PowerPC microprocessors, for years. When Apple first released the Power Mac G4, there were so many fabrication problems at Motorola's chip foundries that Apple initially had to scale back what were supposed to be 500MHz G4s to 450MHz, a move that really hurt Apple's credibility in the computing world.
More recently, Moto had been having problems delivering G4 7447s in sufficient quantities for Apple to release their Powerbook upgrades, including the much-ballyhooed 15" Aluminum model. In any case, Apple's decision to go with IBM's PowerPC technology was probably motivated as much by pragmatic corporate survivalism as any other factor -- they simply couldn't afford to be tied down by a semiconductor sloth like Motorola.
In any case, I doubt this means much for Moto's embedded processor and microcontroller business, which has been thriving for quite some time. It just doesn't operate under the same pressure as the rapidly advancing world of high-performance microprocessor products. The 68HC11 and HCS12 will probably be around for a very long time to come.
The G5 are actually 25% cheaper to produce than the Moto G4s. The expense comes into manufacturing the mobos and the cooling systems and so the cost of the main components stays the same. The price point of the professional line of comptuers from Apple has not increased with the release of the G5.
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
Motorola was placed in contrast with Zenith. Both companies were established at around the same time and were basically in the same market. Over time, however, Zenith languished while Motorola kept on crankin' out the hits. Motorola's culture encouraged innovation and relentless focus on quality.
Those of you who graduated from college in the 1990s or 2000s likely won't remember this, but in the 1980s, Motorola was one of the view companies that was consistently beating Japanese companies in quality. They were hailed by US government and business leaders alike as an exemplar of what an American business could do in a challenging international market.
This is just further proof that nobody sits on top forever, and that keeping a very large, multinational business dynamic is a tremendously difficult task.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Indeed. Motorola makes a fine line of embedded controllers and other processors and chips. I've worried for some time that trying to compete in the hot-dog contest with the likes of Intel and AMD was seriously damaging the company.
Now maybe they can get back to the 68HC11, '12, '05, '08 parts where they've got a damned fine product line. Let someone else be the megaherz weenies.
A Good Intro to NetBS