Fairchild Semiconductor Articulates Acquisition and Development Strategy
Fairchild Semiconductor (San Jose, CA) recently articulated its acquisition and new product development strategy for participants at the CIBC World Markets Annual Conference, a strategy that they claim has enabled them to achieve growth rates that far outpace the semiconductor industry as a whole.
Fairchild Executive Vice President and CFO Joseph Martin stated that his organization's strategy of identifying and acquiring companies integral to Fairchild's expansion of products and markets during down cycles provides immediate benefits while concurrently strengthening Fairchild for when business cycles experience upturns.
“Since becoming independent in 1997, we've been aggressive about our plans to grow Fairchild through acquisitions and new products," Martin said. “By doing so, we've defined the multi-market semiconductor business and have established a highly successful model that takes complete advantage of that opportunity. This strategy has enabled us to outgrow the industry significantly while tripling our revenues in less than four years. We intend to continue our growth trajectory through new product development and more acquisitions."
“Timing has also played a key role," Martin continued “and we've tended to accelerate our acquisitions during down cycles to leverage the opportunity and be in the best position when the cycles turn positive. This strategy has paid huge dividends in enabling us to leapfrog our competition in market share growth and customer demand."
“Our criteria for acquisition remains a combination of companies that broaden our product portfolio with a presence in optimal geographic regions and in new end markets for Fairchild. For example, our recent acquisition of Intersil's Discrete Power business enabled us to become the leading global supplier of broad-based power components; strengthened our dominance in the U.S. and Europe; extended us into high growth automotive and industrial markets; added significant patents and intellectual property to our portfolio; and provided new, advanced manufacturing facilities," Martin said.
