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Texas Instruments CEO Sees Mobile Internet Driving Growth

By RIVA RICHMOND

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -- Order rates for Texas Instruments Inc.'s (TXN) chips have been on an upswing during the last two quarters, thanks to firming demand for consumer electronics and a subsided inventory glut at hardware makers.

But a new wave of growth at the Dallas-based company, the market-share leader in chips for cell phones, won't come without technological innovation that gives consumers better reasons to buy new gadgets, said Chief Executive Tom Engibous at a luncheon with Wall Street Journal editors and reporters Wednesday.

That reason will be the "mobile Internet," a future of powerful wireless devices that keep people plugged into the global Internet wherever they are and provide everything from online video to international phone calls at local prices.

For now the vision is well ahead of the technology, both hardware and software. But as the gap is closed in the coming years, "we could be in for one of the biggest growth spurts that we've seen in a decade and a half," Engibous said.

Texas Instruments is doing its part: creating high-performance, multifunction chips for these devices, which could come in the form of souped-up cell phones, MP3 players or digital cameras or could be multifunction devices. Texas Instruments' next-generation chips will keep it ahead of the competition and help it hold on its market leadership.

The company's focus on consumer markets, where spending on technology has continued to flow, has provided Texas Instruments some shelter during the technology-industry slowdown.

Engibous warned against the folly of bold predictions about what, precisely, the mobile Internet will ultimately look like. Rather, industry should focus on taking practical steps toward building viable products, he said, quipping: "I think we should be selling Bibles, not religion."

-Riva Richmond; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5670; [e-mail]

Updated September 4, 2002 7:00 p.m. EDT

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20020904_008153,00.html?mod=INDUSTRY

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