無晶圓廠手機(jī)芯片設(shè)計(jì)業(yè)者ST-Ericsson去年12月新上任的首席執(zhí)行官Didier Lamouche，在今年初透露該公司將在3月底之前宣布新戰(zhàn)略計(jì)劃；而近日有業(yè)界傳聞指出，該計(jì)劃可能與ST-Ericsson的出售有關(guān)。
Didier Lamouche51Oesmc
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針對(duì)以上引述匿名消息來源的路透社(Reuters)報(bào)導(dǎo)，ST-Ericsson不愿發(fā)表評(píng)論，僅重申Lamouche先前所宣布的戰(zhàn)略計(jì)劃三步驟；第一步，是在2011年12月到2012年2月間，重新審視ST-Ericsson的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)和弱勢(shì)，包括對(duì)目前的產(chǎn)品組合；接著在2012年2月到3月，將訂定長(zhǎng)期的戰(zhàn)略計(jì)劃；最后則是在4月份著手計(jì)劃之具體執(zhí)行。
由意法半導(dǎo)體(
ST)與愛立信(Ericsson) 合資成立的ST-Ericsson誕生于在 2009年2月，但這三年來巨額虧損，欠下母公司龐大債務(wù)。由于ST-Ericsson旗下的那些所謂舊有產(chǎn)品──也就是在公司成立前就有的產(chǎn)品──業(yè)績(jī)急遽衰退，多數(shù)新推出芯片與平臺(tái)在變化迅速的手機(jī)市場(chǎng)又尚未達(dá)到高銷售量，使得該公司一直無法損益平衡。
因?yàn)镾T- Ericsson的窘境拖累母公司意法的財(cái)務(wù)表現(xiàn)，財(cái)務(wù)分析師紛紛提醒意法應(yīng)該著手處理此狀況。路透社所引述的匿名消息來源指出，ST-Ericsson可能出售，潛在買主包括AMD、英特爾(Intel)、Nvidia與德州儀器(TI)；不過該消息來源也認(rèn)為，除非ST-Ericsson業(yè)績(jī)出現(xiàn)好轉(zhuǎn)跡象，否則出售交易可能會(huì)拖上1~2年的時(shí)間。
上述路透社報(bào)導(dǎo)猜測(cè)，Lamouche 即將發(fā)表的ST-Ericsson新戰(zhàn)略計(jì)劃，有可能包含大幅度裁員，或是將尋求應(yīng)用處理器開發(fā)伙伴。該報(bào)導(dǎo)指出，三年來，ST-Ericsson已經(jīng)虧 損20億美元，主要是因?yàn)閬碜源罂蛻糁Z基亞(Nokia)與Sony Ericsson的營(yíng)收大減七成。
筆者(EETimes資深編輯Peter Clarke)認(rèn)為，意法應(yīng)該要說服合資伙伴愛立信賣掉ST-Ericsson，而且最后的買主很可能是某家新崛起的中國(guó)廠商；對(duì)兩家母公司來說，從一個(gè)已經(jīng)失敗的合資案中抽身而出，是能在最短時(shí)間內(nèi)獲利最多，或是至少停止虧損的選擇。
本文下一頁(yè)：ST-Ericsson為什么要賣？
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ST-Ericsson在三年之間虧損近20億美元，積欠母公司債務(wù)達(dá)8億美元；而且在情況似乎尚未有好轉(zhuǎn)跡象，反而變得更糟。路透社報(bào)導(dǎo)指出，在去年底取代Gilles Delfassy擔(dān)任ST-Ericsson首席執(zhí)行官的Didier Lamouche，可能會(huì)以大幅裁員的組織重整策略來削減成本，而其終極目標(biāo)，就是讓ST-Ericsson的“賣相”看起來好一點(diǎn)。
針對(duì)傳言內(nèi)容，ST-Ericsson不予置評(píng)，僅在一份聲明中強(qiáng)調(diào)，母公司意法與愛立信仍對(duì)這家合資公司有所承諾，特別是對(duì)意法來說，ST-Ericsson是其“多媒體融合策略的重要組成部分”──這是否透露了其實(shí)是愛立信比較想擺脫這家合資公司，巴望著意法能買下另五成股份？頗讓人玩味。
無論對(duì)ST-Ericsson或是意法來說，可躊躇的時(shí)間都不多；值得一提的是，ST-Ericsson最近一期財(cái)報(bào)指出：“我們的股東仍持續(xù)支持我們的過渡性財(cái)務(wù)需求?！保沃^“過渡”？這個(gè)“過渡”又要花多長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間？但事實(shí)上，在意法的發(fā)展歷程中，這家成立三年的合資公司扮演著船錨的角色。
確實(shí)，ST-Ericsson幫意法扛走了不少過去留下的問題，特別是對(duì)步履蹣跚的諾基亞這家客戶之過度依賴；但是，把問題丟給由 ST-NXP Wireless (編按：2008年4月結(jié)合意法與NXP無線芯片部門所成立的一家公司)與愛立信組成的新合資公司，顯然不是個(gè)有效方法。
另一家歐洲半導(dǎo)體大廠
英飛凌(Infineon)在幾年前將通訊業(yè)務(wù)分割，其中有線芯片事業(yè)是獨(dú)立為新公司Lantiq，無線芯片業(yè)務(wù)則是出售予英特爾。英飛凌首席執(zhí)行官Peter Bauer在過去十年決定將公司焦點(diǎn)集中在并不那么光鮮亮麗、但利潤(rùn)較高的芯片業(yè)務(wù)，包括電源、汽車、工業(yè)與安全等應(yīng)用產(chǎn)品；現(xiàn)在看來，其決策是非常明智。
恩智浦(
NXP)首席執(zhí)行官Rick Clemmer也有類似的策略思考，試圖將公司帶離數(shù)個(gè)消費(fèi)性市場(chǎng)，聚焦于與英飛凌類似的、高利潤(rùn)的混合訊號(hào)IC市場(chǎng)。NXP當(dāng)然也已經(jīng)擺脫了無線芯片業(yè)務(wù)，在稍早前將該業(yè)務(wù)出售，與意法合資成立ST-NXP Wireless。
在此同時(shí)，意法首席執(zhí)行官Carlo Bozotti 打算進(jìn)軍數(shù)字移動(dòng)多媒體領(lǐng)域，并試圖藉由建立在歐洲市場(chǎng)的地位份量來贏得這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。但也許是Bozotti運(yùn)氣不佳，ST-Ericsson自誕生以來，全球經(jīng)濟(jì)景氣大幅動(dòng)蕩，移動(dòng)裝置市場(chǎng)也劇烈變化。
對(duì)意法來說，是該接受這個(gè)合資公司計(jì)劃失敗，并將公司焦點(diǎn)集中在那些仍然表現(xiàn)良好、獲利不錯(cuò)市場(chǎng)的時(shí)候了，例如該公司擅長(zhǎng)的微機(jī)電系統(tǒng)(MEMS)，以及
汽車電子、微控制器，還有其它嵌入式應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域。
本文下一頁(yè)：如果要賣，賣給誰最好？
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• 何時(shí)才是ST-Ericsson的出頭之日？51Oesmc
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雖然或許會(huì)有西方企業(yè)想藉由收購(gòu)ST-Ericsson取得某些專利，筆者認(rèn)為，來自遠(yuǎn)東的廠商對(duì)這樁交易可能興趣更大。在傳聞的ST-Ericsson潛在買主名單中，德州儀器應(yīng)該不會(huì)想重回利潤(rùn)超級(jí)薄的智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)；至于AMD或是英特爾可能有興趣，但他們應(yīng)該會(huì)在旁邊觀望好一陣子，直到ST-Ericsson的重整策略顯現(xiàn)效果。
還有顯然也想在手機(jī)領(lǐng)域闖一番事業(yè)的
Nvidia，不過該公司已經(jīng)有自己的ARM核心Tegra系列應(yīng)用處理器，并在2011年5月以近4億美元收購(gòu)基頻/無線調(diào)制解調(diào)器芯片供貨商Icera；收購(gòu)ST-Ericsson的任何東西，都有可能會(huì)削弱Nvidia先前已經(jīng)付出的努力。
那么還有誰會(huì)想從ST-Ericsson身上得到些好處？或許是來自中國(guó)的某些公司，又或許是蘋果(Apple)； 后者曾藉由一些重新整合的過程，在移動(dòng)裝置產(chǎn)品策略中取得自行開發(fā)芯片的能力。也許以長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的眼光來看，被蘋果或是英特爾收購(gòu)會(huì)是一個(gè)最好的結(jié)果，因?yàn)槟馨?技術(shù)與工作機(jī)會(huì)留在西半球，但買下一家有如燙手山芋的芯片公司，并不符合蘋果的行事風(fēng)格。
蘋果向來偏愛小型的新創(chuàng)IC設(shè)計(jì)公司，用最劃算的條件換來所需的關(guān)鍵技術(shù)；ST-Ericsson身上背負(fù)的那些包袱不會(huì)是蘋果想要的，甚至包括可拓展客戶基礎(chǔ)的能力。因此，把ST- Ericsson賣給像是中國(guó)電信設(shè)備大廠華為(Huawei)旗下芯片設(shè)計(jì)公司海思(HiSilicon)那樣的企業(yè)，也許會(huì)是能在最短時(shí)間內(nèi)為意法與愛立信帶來最大價(jià)值的途徑。
除了海思，其它中國(guó)芯片供貨商可能也會(huì)對(duì)ST-Ericsson有興趣，例如瑞芯 (Rockchip)、東芯(Xincomm)、聯(lián)芯(Leadcore)、新岸線(Nufront)，還有展訊(Spreadtrum)；在這些公司里，分別與電信設(shè)備供貨商華為、大唐(Datang)有密切關(guān)系的海思與聯(lián)芯，又是最具可能性的。另外，臺(tái)灣的聯(lián)發(fā)科(Mediatek)，也是可能對(duì)收購(gòu)案有興趣的芯片設(shè)計(jì)業(yè)者。
就像大多數(shù)的芯片公司，ST-Ericsson也很關(guān)注中國(guó)市場(chǎng)，以及當(dāng)?shù)刈杂械?a href="javascript:void(0);" target=_blank>TD- SCDMA無線通訊標(biāo)準(zhǔn)；對(duì)于中國(guó)或是臺(tái)灣的手機(jī)芯片業(yè)者來說，ST-Ericsson可帶來應(yīng)對(duì)TD-SCDMA標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的能力，以及取得其它進(jìn)軍全球3G / 4G通訊市場(chǎng)所需專利的機(jī)會(huì)，端看交易條件怎么談。
不過，想收購(gòu)ST-Ericsson，也不能低估地緣性的因素；對(duì)歐洲與西方世界來說，失去這樣一家公司是件丟臉的事，或許有關(guān)單位會(huì)為了將技術(shù)與工作機(jī)會(huì)留在西方而出手干預(yù)。但歐洲能怎么做呢？這個(gè)大陸上有許多國(guó)家面臨破產(chǎn)，很少有幾個(gè)是成功的；也許擁有27個(gè)成員國(guó)的歐盟會(huì)試圖讓蘋果或英特爾等大廠協(xié)助拯救ST-Ericsson。
著眼于歐洲消費(fèi)性電子市場(chǎng)商機(jī)規(guī)模，蘋果與英特爾會(huì)很想成為優(yōu)良?xì)W盟公民；如果能取得像是蘋果這樣在移動(dòng)裝置市場(chǎng)叱咤風(fēng)云的大廠設(shè)計(jì)案，ST-Ericsson所面臨的許多問題將迎刃而解──至少在該公司又一次被淘汰出局之前。
編譯：Judith Cheng
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 分析師：惟有改革，才能救意法半導(dǎo)體！
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• 何時(shí)才是ST-Ericsson的出頭之日？51Oesmc
參考英文原文：˙Update: Why ST should sell ST-Ericsson to China (Peter Clarke) &˙ Report: ST-Ericsson re-org is prep for sale (Peter Clarke)
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Why ST should sell ST-Ericsson to China
Peter Clarke
LONDON – Europe's largest chip company STMicroelectronics NV should persuade Ericsson AB that they sell off their mobile chip joint venture ST-Ericsson, but probably to some aspiring Chinese company. That is likely to produce the quickest and most profitable – or least loss-making – exit for the two parent companies from what has become a failed project.
ST-Ericsson is currently massively loss-making and has built up debts of $800 million with its parent companies over a three year period while losing nearly $2 billion. And things are slated to get worse before they get better.
According to a Reuters report Didier Lamouche, the CEO brought in to replace Gilles Delfassy late last year, is going to cut hard in a restructuring plan designed to take out cost – and that a trimmed down ST-Ericsson will start to look good for sale – eventually. However, the same report, quoting unnamed sources, said potential buyers in the western hemisphere, the likes of Intel and AMD, may want to wait one or two years to see the beneficial results of the cuts.
A spokesperson for ST-Ericsson said the company has no comment on the Reuters report but added that STMicroelectronics and Ericsson remain committed to the joint venture and that it is a fundamental part of ST's digital convergence strategy. It is interesting to note that ST-Ericsson is almost exactly three years old and that it may be Ericsson that wants to disengage from the joint venture and had expected ST to buy out its 50 percent.
I don't think ST-Ericsson or ST have that much more time. In a note in the most recent financial results ST-Ericsson said "Our shareholders will continue to support funding our transitional financial needs." This of course begs the question of "transition to what?" and "how long will that transition take?" The fact is that ST-Ericsson is a three-year old joint venture that has acted like a boat-anchor on the progress of STMicroelectronics.
It is true that ST-Ericsson wrapped up a lot of the previous problems of ST, specifically an overdependence on faltering Nokia as a customer, but pushing the problem into a joint-venture along with other European wireless chip business units belonging to NXP and Ericsson, was clearly not the solution.
ST compared with Infineon
Compare ST's plight with that of Infineon, which got out of communications through the spin-off of its wired chips into Lantiq Deutschland GmbH and the sale of its wireless business unit to Intel. In the later part of the last decade Infineon's CEO Peter Bauer decided to focus on some of the less glamorous but higher margin parts of the chip industry: power, automotive, industrial and security. How smart does that look now?
NXP has a similarly focused strategy with CEO Rick Clemmer taking the company out of a number of consumer markets and now pursuing similar markets to Infineon with high-performance mixed-signal ICs. NXP of course got out of mobile wireless by selling its business to create the joint venture.
Meanwhile ST's CEO Carlo Bozotti, wanted to compete in digital mobile multimedia and tried win through creating a repository of European critical mass. It is perhaps bad luck for Bozotti that the ST-Ericsson's existence has coincided with major upheavals in the global economy and in major changes in the mobile device market.
But it is time for ST to accept that the plan has not worked and to focus on the things that it continues to be good at and that earn good margins, which include such things as MEMS, where it is a world leader, automotive electronics, microcontrollers and embedded applications.
While it is possible that a western company might want to acquire ST-Ericsson and access to patents I think greater interest might come from further east. I don't think Texas Instruments wants to get back into the world of razor-thin margins in smartphones and the while the likes of AMD or Intel may have the appetite but are they going to sit on the sidelines too long waiting for the cuts have their effect.
Nvidia Corp. defnitely want to compete in this area but it has its own line of ARM-based Tegra application processors and is pursuing a modem strategy based on its purchase of Icera Inc. (Bristol England) for nearly $400 million in May 2011. Surely any deal for ST-Ericsson would undermine the value of what Nvidia has already paid.
Apple compared with China
The other question to ask is who has the means to make something of ST-Ericsson. I think that some companies from greater China do and perhaps Apple, which has been going through a process of re-integration to give itself the ability to develop and own chips during the roll out of its mobile device strategy.
An acquisition by Apple or Intel might be the best result for keeping technologies and jobs in the western hemisphere long-term but a big blockbuster chip company buy does not match Apple's methods to date. It has preferred to pick up small, young IC design groups that provide key technology or design capability at the best bang for buck.
Apple does not need all the baggage that would come with ST-Ericsson, or the ability to address multiple customers. Which is why a sale to a company such as HiSilicon Technologies Co. Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) backed by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) might extract the highest value in the shortest time for ST and Ericsson.
Other Chinese companies that might have an interest in ST-Ericsson could include Rockchip, Xincomm, Leadcore Technology, Nufront and Spreadtrum, Of these HiSilicon with its links with Huawei and Leadcore, aligned with Datang, would appear more likely. In Taiwan Mediatek Inc. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) is also a likely candidate.
Like most mobile chip companies ST-Ericsson has been looking to China and such things as the locally mandated and developed TD-SCDMA standard. For mobile chip companies in China or Taiwan ST-Ericsson could bring the means to address the standard as well as access to additional patents with which to address 3G and 4G markets around the world, depending on how the deal is structured.
However, the geopolitical nature of any such sale of ST-Ericsson should not be underestimated. It would be a loss of face for Europe and for the west and behind the scenes moves may be made to try and keep control of the technology and jobs in the west. But what can Europe do? It is a continent of many bankrupt nations and few successful ones. The 27-nation European Union could try to lean on the likes of Apple and Intel to have them step in and save ST-Ericsson. Apple and Intel want to be good European citizens because of the size of the consumer market the European Union represents.
Of course, such is the power of Apple in the mobile device market these days that one design win with Apple could make many of ST-Ericsson's problems go away – at least until they are designed out again.
Report: ST-Ericsson re-org is prep for sale
Peter Clarke
LONDON – Didier Lamouche, the CEO appointed in December at fabless mobile chip joint venture ST-Ericsson, is set to announce a re-organization before the end of the month, which will ready the company for sale, according to a Reuters report that quoted unnamed sources.
ST-Ericsson is massively loss-making and has built up large debts with its parent companies over the three year period since its formation in February 2009. There is no breakeven point in sight as so-called legacy products, those created before the formation of ST-Ericsson are declining rapidly while the new chip designs and platforms have, in many cases, yet to reach volume in a rapidly changing mobile phone market. The drag of ST-Ericsson on STMicroelectronics' financial results has been commented on by financial analysts who have called for ST to address the situation.
Potential buyers for ST-Ericsson could include Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Texas Instruments, the Reuters report said quoting sources. However, they expect a deal to be delayed for a year or two until ST-Ericsson shows signs of a turnaround.
The restructuring due to be unveiled by Lamouche is likely to include major layoffs and could include seeking a partner on application processors, the report said.
ST-Ericsson has lost $2 billion in three years as revenues from key customers Nokia and Sony Ericsson shrank by 70 percent, the report said.
責(zé)編：Quentin
