Freescale Semiconductor (FSL)

[SeriousMoney]

Cost Controls Boost Freescale's Net
<By Staff Reporter, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/21/05>

Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s net income in the third quarter nearly tripled as cost controls helped offset sluggish sales.

The Austin, Texas, chip maker reported net of $164 million, or 38 cents a share, up from $57 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The latest quarter included a $26 million pretax gain and a $10 million write-down of receivables stemming from Troy, Mich., auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp. filing for bankruptcy protection.

Sales rose 1.4% to $1.45 billion from $1.43 billion as demand for the company's automotive and networking-gear chips stalled. Revenue from the company's mobile-phone-chip division rose 8.5%.

Freescale, the nation's third-largest chip maker behind Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc., makes a wide range of chips for cars, cellphones, Internet networking gear, and home appliances. It was spun off by Motorola Inc. in 2004 and is the primary chip supplier to the Schaumburg, Ill., maker of telecommunications equipment.

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