Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (South Portland, ME) stated that first-quarter revenues are tracking slightly ahead of original projections given by the company during its fourth-quarter 2002 earnings conference call. During the quarter, Fairchild had stronger orders from notebook PC, power supply, printer, lighting, wireless networking and computing storage end markets, while orders have been weaker from desktop PC and cellular phone manufacturers, and the broader consumer and industrial markets in Asia and Korea.
Fairchild President, CEO and Chairman of the Board Kirk Pond stated, "Seven weeks ago we guided first-quarter revenues to be flat to down five percent sequentially. Order rates were fairly steady throughout the first six weeks of the quarter, and have recently increased as we moved past the Chinese New Year holiday. We now expect first-quarter revenues to be flat to down three percent sequentially."
