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EDN Europe's Editor Graham Prophet posts a selection of comments and insights prompted by the many items of industry news and rumour that cross the editorial desk or are gathered on his frequent travels to interviews, press conferences and events around Europe - and further afield - and somehow never find their way to the magazine or the web site, recovering some of the information otherwise lost in the noise level...

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

What, now?

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Freescale held the European presentation of its Technology Forum in Paris yesterday, and among other subjects, CEO Richard Beyer commented on the company’s proposed exit from the business of designing and making wireless handset chipsets. He confirmed that the divestiture relates only to the handset area, and that the company remains very committed to the basestation/infrastructure side of the sector, and that fits with its view of the network-access business as being fundamental to its success. Despite the current difficult climate for high-value corporate acquisitions, Beyer says he expects to complete some sort of deal – “resolve a course of action” was his exact phrase – within three months; he would prefer to sell the business, but would contemplate a joint venture.
This should give us some sort of measure of confidence in the mid-term future of the sector; if a deal can be done against the present financial background, it means that someone thinks we are not completely engulfed in despondency. But having expressed the intention to exit the business, the value inherent in the IP held by the company’s handset group starts to decline; the clock is ticking on this one.

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