ON Semiconductor Triples Research and Development

ON Semiconductor (Phoenix, AZ) announced that it will triple its research and development spending by 2001 over its 1999 spending levels and will double the product introductions it plans to release in this year to 400. The company plans to commit 80 percent of its research and development to analog-power management and broadband applications, with a long-term target of between five percent and six percent of sales revenues in research and development spending after 2001.Over the last eight months, the company has introduced three multi-phase controllers, a family of analog CMOS voltage detectors aimed at PDAs, cellular phones, and silicon logic products for broadband networking at speeds of 2.5Gbits and above. The company predicts unit growth of 32 percent (revenue growth of 27 percent) from 1998 to 2003 for battery-management ICs. According to the company, analog ICs should grow by more than 25 percent in 2001. In 1999, spending on research and development was $37.0 million on a pro-forma basis, which represented about 2.3 percent of sales, the company said.According to the company, 350 new products, targeted to the wireless and broadband markets, have been introduced since becoming an independent company one year ago. "We have demonstrated our ability to innovate, create and deliver the new products that our customers need," stated Jim Thorburn, COO of ON Semiconductor. "Our commitment to research and development underscores our goal to continue to ensure the renewal of critical semiconductors essential for growing applications such as the Internet and wireless connectivity."