Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Xilinx, QuickLogic announce layoffs


Mark LaPedusEE Times (06/04/2008 10:02 AM EDT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Amid a lull in the IC market, two FPGA vendors--Xilinx Inc. and QuickLogic Corp.--have separately announced layoffs.
As a result of a reorganization, Xilinx said it will eliminate approximately 250 positions, or about 7 percent of the company's workforce. The workforce reduction is expected to be completed by the end of the next fiscal quarter, according to the San Jose-based FPGA house.
Xilinx expects to record restructuring-related charges of approximately $18-to-22 million in connection with the reorganization. The restructuring charges will impact its first quarter's operating expenses, which were forecasted to be approximately flat sequentially for the June ending quarter.
No other details were given. On Tuesday, FPGA rival Altera Corp. gave its mid-quarter update for the second quarter of 2008. The company now expects that sequential revenue growth will be toward the high end of the company's previous 1-to-4 percent guidance.
Meanwhile, QuickLogic has reduced its headcount by 17 percent. The move is part of an effort to focus on its ASSPs, of which it calls Customer Specific Standard Products (CSSPs).
Last year, QuickLogic backed away from the FPGA market, saying it will instead focus on CSSPs. Going forward, QuickLogic will no longer position its PolarPro line for mainstream FPGA applications. The company will continue to sell FPGA products to niche-oriented applications in the aerospace, military and related fronts.
Regarding the layoffs, the company will record non-cash impairment charges of $1.8-to-$2.4 million and one-time cash charges of approximately $500,000 between now and the end of the third quarter of 2008.
"In addition to improving our agility and the scope of opportunities we can address, this new alignment significantly lowers our breakeven point and positions QuickLogic to scale more profitably in the quarters to come,'' said E. Thomas Hart, chairman, president and CEO, in a statement.
''While CSSP design activity has continued to grow, the aggregate softness of consumer demand continues to hamper the ability of our customers to forecast if and when their new designs will go into production,'' he said.

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