The Sacramento Bee, Calif., Plugged In Column: Intel Delays Joint Phone Chip Venture
By Clint Swett, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Dec. 27–Intel Corp. and Swiss company STMicroelectronics are postponing the launch of a high-profile joint venture that will produce flash memory chips for cell phones, a delay that affects hundreds of Intel workers in Folsom.
The two companies are renegotiating financing details, according to a regulatory filing late last week, since the original $1.55 billion in debt financing was chopped in half.
Intel said the joint venture, to be called Numonyx, will be delayed until sometime in the first quarter instead of closing on Dec. 31, as expected.
Numonyx, like its parents, will produce the NOR flash memory chips used by cell phone makers to store key operating code.
Stiff competition among NOR flash manufacturers is driving down prices just as Intel, STMicro and others are trying to expand the technical capabilities of the tiny, fast-working devices.
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said workers in Intel’s Folsom flash operations will remain on the company’s payroll until the deal is complete. After that, they are expected to move to a new facility in the Folsom area operating under the Numonyx banner.
Mulloy said the delay and the reduced financing can be traced to turmoil in the credit markets, due primarily to the subprime loan crisis.
“Clearly, if you look at the credit markets, financing conditions have changed,” he said.
The financing was meant to compensate both Intel and STMicro for giving up their flash businesses, as well as to operate the new entity.
Mulloy said the reduced loan won’t endanger Numonyx’s ability to operate. “I don’t want to speak for the new company, but all involved agree that the new financing is sufficient to conduct operations,” he said.
While Intel and STMicro will be the biggest shareholders in Numonyx, private equity firm Francisco Partners is investing $150 million in exchange for a 6.3 percent stake in the new company.
Online customers satisfied
We can’t speak to the shopping experience at the big malls, but it appears those who opted for online gift-buying have experienced happy holidays.
According to research by Nielsen Online, 82 percent of Internet shoppers reported being satisfied with the support they got from online retailers.
Nielsen research executive Charles Buckwalter said those surveyed seemed happy with such features as online order tracking, e-mail order confirmation, access to customer service numbers and answers to frequently asked questions posted on the retailer’s Web sites.
“There’s no question that these sites have learned a lot about (online) customer service,” Buckwalter said. “We believe that customer satisfaction is up from even a year ago.”
The Nielsen research showed that 82 percent of those surveyed reported being very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the customer support available online this year.
Of those planning on posting reviews of their shopping experience, 88 percent said those reviews would be positive.
So pleased were the consumers that 46 percent said they did a majority of their holiday shopping online.
The top-rated online retailers were Netflix, NexTag, Amazon, Yahoo Shopping, Kohl’s, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot, Circuit City, eBay and J.C. Penney.
“All these retailers seem to be unlocking the secrets of what customers want,” Buckwalter said.
—–
To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com/.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NASDAQ-NMS:INTC, NYSE:STM, NASDAQ-NMS:NFLX, NYSE:KSS, NYSE:BKS, NYSE:HD, NYSE:CC, NASDAQ-NMS:EBAY, NYSE:JCP,