Fairchild Semi reiterates first-quarter guidance

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Fairchild Semiconductor announced Wednesday (March 2) it would meet its previous guidance for the first quarter of 2005 calling for sequentially lower sales and gross margin.

"Bookings improved in the first half of this quarter, and we continue to expect a normal seasonally slow revenue quarter with sales 2 to 6 percent lower than the last quarter and gross margin down about 200 basis points sequentially," said Kirk Pond, president, chief executive, and chairman of Fairchild (South Portland, Maine), in a statement.

Pond added, "As expected, order rates slowed during the week of Chinese New Year and started to rebound the last two weeks. We continue to expect orders to accelerate during March."

Fairchild reported strong demand for its power analog and high power switches in the computing, consumer, and industrial end markets, as well as low power switches for notebook computers and portable products.

The company also reported a moderation of falling prices from the previous quarter, with lead times on some power analog and high power switches exceeding the 8 to 10 week average for all products.